There is NO reason to not spend cap space

[Ring 6]

If I were the GM, I'd be handing out roster bonuses, not signing bonuses.
The Pats do have more money available than good players available to spend it on.
Overthecap suggests the Pats still have around $80M (!!) in available cap space.
There are not a lot of players worth $20M to spend that on, so they will definitely roll some into the future.
But given no obvious way, at this point, to sign a valuable $30M receiver or $20M LT, if they reverse normal cap accounting they will set themselves up for when they do improve and have to re-sign Gonzalez and Maye.
A signing bonus is paid up front, but accounted for across the term of the contract. As salaries escalate, this pushes cap cost into the future. A roster bonus is accounted for in the current season. Both are guaranteed.
So I'd be using more roster bonuses, consume the cap space now, create more future cap space for the future when maybe some of those elite players want to come to an improving team rather than a four-win team.

A few things.
1) Wanting to pay roster bonuses instead of signing bonuses results in no players wanting to sign with your team. Signing bonus is a huge chunk of the total contract at signing. Roster bonuses aren’t guaranteed out and you may never get them.
***** I just reread your post i thought you were referring to game day bonuses. I don’t believe roster bonuses can be paid in the first year of a contract. They also are amortized as well (think of them as a delayed signing bonus) and are not guaranteed. ********
2) 80 mill doesn’t include some FAs we signed who aren’t in the Calc yet, 4 of them I think, so it’s really around 65 mill.
Of that 65mill, 25 wiill go towards the draft choices, the 52/53rd players, practices squad, dead money for players cut, in season signings etc.
So it’s really 40 mill. If we sign a WR, it looks like it will be a shorter term deal, so it might hit 15 million.
That leaves $25 mill. If we sign depth players at 2-4 mil a piece we have enough needs to use it all.

 

[PowerRunRevival]

Definitely understand that thought process, although I have also seen and read that the rate of cap growth is expected to decelerate. So relying on the logic that it's fine because the cap is gonna keep exploding upwards is not responsible.

I'd love a friendly wager on this if you want to discuss that off the thread. I'd be happy to bet that the cap keeps going up for at least the next 5 years.

To me it's irresponsible to ignore market conditions when deciding how you want your team to spend. Keep the money in your pocket when it's time to spend and then that money is worth less the next year due to inflation (in this case it's contract and salary cap inflation). I'd compare this to putting your money under your mattress rather than spending it on a vacation home. Inflation makes it so that the money under your mattress is worth less in the future than it is now, while the house will provide you immediate utility and become an asset you can later sell for more money (I.E later trading a player you signed in free agency for a draft pick).

The Pats have had trouble using all their cap space the last two years. I don't want to see the fans support the team not spending by focusing on contract value rather than improvement in the team. Let's encourage the team to spend more as fans not say "oh it's ok not to spend as much" because we should only sign contracts that are a win in terms of value.

 

[Ross12]

I'd love a friendly wager on this if you want to discuss that off the thread. I'd be happy to bet that the cap keeps going up for at least the next 5 years.

To me it's irresponsible to ignore market conditions when deciding how you want your team to spend. Keep the money in your pocket when it's time to spend and then that money is worth less the next year due to inflation (in this case it's contract and salary cap inflation). I'd compare this to putting your money under your mattress rather than spending it on a vacation home. Inflation makes it so that the money under your mattress is worth less in the future than it is now, while the house will provide you immediate utility and become an asset you can later sell for more money (I.E later trading a player you signed in free agency for a draft pick).

The Pats have had trouble using all their cap space the last two years. I don't want to see the fans support the team not spending by focusing on contract value rather than improvement in the team. Let's encourage the team to spend more as fans not say "oh it's ok not to spend as much" because we should only sign contracts that are a win in terms of value.

Sorry, I was not trying to say it will stop going up. That is almost guaranteed. What I meant by "decelerate" was that the percentage growth each year would decrease.

 

[WinstonSmith]

 

[imahobgoblin]

You still are responding and still saying nothing about football, just your obsession with me.
I’m sorry that you appear to be both obsessed and illiterate.

What was that NEM?

 

[DaBruinz]

A.J. I remember last year you called out Management after they left so much $$$$$$$ on the Table in FA24. The Kraft accountants didn't see the abysmal season coming; you get what you pay for a Roster Filled with borderline NFL Players.

How much did they leave on the table? go ahead. Let everyone know just exactly how much they ended up carrying over to this year..

 

[DaBruinz]

Signing players for the sake of signing players is just collecting talent. Collecting talent doesn't win football games.

Vrabel targeting players who already have the mental and physical toughness he wants will help the team succeed. It will weed out those who are problems. We saw that in 2000 & 2001. Of which, Vrabel was one of those players that the Patriots brought in.

Only time will tell whether the mix of talent will be enough to get them back to the play-offs.

 

[Ring 6]

What was that NEM?

What’s a NEM

 

[Ring 6]

How much did they leave on the table? go ahead. Let everyone know just exactly how much they ended up carrying over to this year..

Over $30,000,000 which they still haven’t spent

 

[TheRainMaker]

What’s a NEM

NEM is a legendary former poster I've heard about that didn't like the OC's.

 

[TheRainMaker]

The core of problem is not the lack of spending in FA, but it's the lack of drafting actual talent since 2013. How many players during that time did you say the Pats needed to keep at all costs? How many on offense or defense made an Pro Bowl or All Pro? It took almost 10 years for a player to make a Pro Bowl or All Pro on defense with Gonzalez breaking the curse. Offensively, Thuney made 2nd team All Pro in 2019 it and then left the Pats in 2020. Aside from that, the rest of the draft picks could leave the Pats and you wouldn't even notice.

The 2024 draft was horrendous. After Maye, there should've been at least one guy we'd be talking about today that has promise. This upcoming draft needs to come away with 2 impact players at minimum.

 

[imahobgoblin]

What’s a NEM

Oh wow, Andy, seriously? You are so far gone you cannot even remember delusional NEM (New England Mike) from Arizona who just went on rants about crossing routes until he finally got banned? Lol

 

[Ring 6]

Oh wow, Andy, seriously? You are so far gone you cannot even remember delusional NEM (New England Mike) from Arizona who just went on rants about crossing routes until he finally got banned? Lol

Who are you?

 

[imahobgoblin]

Who are you?

I'm Batman

 

[patsfanfromoversea]

They are in the bottom third of cap space the next 2 years already.

how is that possible with that lack of talent. they don't have any top tier player on offense on any position

Would you rather they max out their cap space in 2024 on middling talent and shove themselves into the basement the next few years with no money to make any significant moves, or would you rather have them leave a bit this year to roll into next year and keep themselves in position to try to get higher end targets/contributors annually? Plus of course the upcoming extensions to Gonzo and Maye.

 

[JayNM]

The core of problem is not the lack of spending in FA, but it's the lack of drafting actual talent since 2013. How many players during that time did you say the Pats needed to keep at all costs? How many on offense or defense made an Pro Bowl or All Pro? It took almost 10 years for a player to make a Pro Bowl or All Pro on defense with Gonzalez breaking the curse. Offensively, Thuney made 2nd team All Pro in 2019 it and then left the Pats in 2020. Aside from that, the rest of the draft picks could leave the Pats and you wouldn't even notice.

The 2024 draft was horrendous. After Maye, there should've been at least one guy we'd be talking about today that has promise. This upcoming draft needs to come away with 2 impact players at minimum.

While I think no one can deny the importance of drafting well, the Rams kinda broke the mold with Sean McVay here

They forego picks, went hard in Free Agency/Offseason and built a SB team. We can discuss if it's worth the troubles we are seeing now, but they were pretty damn close for more than ond occasion

It is absolutely possible to raise a team in the offseason, sans drafting, nowadays. With the ever increasing cap space, players who get their 1st real contract, unless they are the QB, are never crippling the financials of the team long term. In fact, in an average of 2 years, their "max contract" becomes the 2nd best, top 5, etc etc. That's the nature of the NFL.

Moreover, having reasonable "middle pieces" are not super proihibitive any, if you don't have a top heavy salary distribution. Well, 30M might net you a prime OLB, but 3 10M players at LB, DT, DE are probably better and costing the same

There is a lot of space for responsible, creative financial articulation in roster management

For a LONG TIME we have been at least poor in this regard, and we can go way back to BB late tenure, where he would grossly overrate some middling players (Sanu anyone?)

 

[stinkypete]

Remember 2021 when it was the best year we have had in the last 5?

Sure, it was a great time running up the score against chump teams with injured stars for a month before getting repeatedly embarrassed by legit competition in December and January.

If that’s what we’re aspiring to, then it’s time to give up hope.

 

[Zoomnbyu]

This team was 4-13 back to back years. There were plenty of reasons to spend.
When your roster suck you have reason to spend.
Who ever said spend just to spend?

No, and that's what you and NM fail to understand. The NE Pats are a business first. Their sole reason for existence is to make the owners profit and until those profits are failing to make the returns the owners desire there is no reason to spend on anything that's not going to make more profit. The stadium is sold out, the concessions are making bank, and the whole Gillette area is making bank through concerts, hospitality revenue, etc...

4-13 is a fan issue not an ownership spend issue until it impacts the bottom line significantly enough.

 

[Ring 6]

Sure, it was a great time running up the score against chump teams with injured stars for a month before getting repeatedly embarrassed by legit competition in December and January.

If that’s what we’re aspiring to, then it’s time to give up hope.

It’s better than. 4-13

 

[Ring 6]

No, and that's what you and NM fail to understand. The NE Pats are a business first. Their sole reason for existence is to make the owners profit and until those profits are failing to make the returns the owners desire there is no reason to spend on anything that's not going to make more profit. The stadium is sold out, the concessions are making bank, and the whole Gillette area is making bank through concerts, hospitality revenue, etc...

4-13 is a fan issue not an ownership spend issue until it impacts the bottom line significantly enough.

If that’s the way Kraft looks at it, we are doomed. And Kraft is a liar.