Patscap mailbag: Questions on Shaq Mason, Gronk and Mike Gillislee

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Answer: In recent years, the top of the right guard market has exploded, as Trai Turner, Kevin Zeitler, Gabe Jackson, David DeCastro, Ronald Leary and T.J. Lang have all signed $10 million plus APY (Average Per Year) deals. I expect that it will take a deal somewhat comparable to Turner's $11.25M APY to extend Mason during 2018. Like Turner, Mason would be in the fourth year of his rookie deal, and has also earned the Proven Performance Escalator raising his fourth year salary to the low RFA tender.

This projected extension for Mason would give him the same signing bonus as Turner. The first two years, the salaries would be fully guaranteed. His third-year salary would be guaranteed for injury only at the start of the deal, and would become fully guaranteed sometime during 2020.



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Answer: Just hit one of the numbers.  My prediction is that Gronk will go over 1,000 receiving yards to earn this incentive.

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Answer: If Gronk was paying a fine, it would go to a charity. In this case, Gronk's $250,000 weekly paycheck will simply remain in whatever account the Patriots use to their players. Some of the $250,000 will be used to pay this week's salary ($45,588) of his replacement on the 53-man roster -- Jonathan Freeny.


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Answer: Considered his chances probable of earning the top tier of his incentives before the suspension. I went into great detail on that earlier this week.

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Answer: Yes. It was filled by Freeny.

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Answer: No. Tweeted later another list of players like Garcia who are on the NFI (Non-Football Illness) list. I do believe that he was drafted to eventually become the starting left tackle.

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Answer: It will not be. See below:

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Answer: Pats can cut Gillislee in 2018 with no dead money. The Patriots would then save over $2 million in cash and about $1.7 million in cap space.

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Answer: Solder's $11,173,513 cap number consists of:
--$6,500,000 salary
--$4,166,668 signing bonus proration
--$468,750 in 46-man active roster bonuses ($31,250 per game)
--$38,095 in offseason workout bonus money

I have not kept up with the 2018 offensive line tag projections, since Solder can’t be tagged in 2018 per a contract clause. Please note that there is one tag for all offensive linemen. In 2017 the offensive linemen franchise tag was $14.271 million.

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Answer: Given that Brandin Cooks is much younger than Alshon Jeffery and has been more productive recently and projects to be more productive going forward, I view Jeffery's deal as Cooks’ floor and not as a comparable.

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Answer: Cooks could have been extended anytime after his acquisition. As a 2014 draft pick, Cooks could have been extended by the Saints on January 2, 2017. Per the 2011 CBA, a draft pick's deal can not be touched during his first three years in the NFL.

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Answer: I have not posted anything about Cooks. If extended in 2018 project the deal to look like:


The first two years, his salaries would be fully guaranteed. His third-year salary would be guaranteed for injury only at the start of the deal, and would become fully guaranteed sometime during 2020. As for the argument that the Pats would never sign a wideout to a big money deal, please note the Patriots are always doing something unexpected and unprecedented during the offseason. See the Gilmore signing as the latest example.

Please note that with these deals for Mason and Cooks, I have created $400,000 in cap space for the 2018 season while also extending two core members of the Patriots.

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Answer: I project both the 2018 Patriots' adjusted cap number and their 2018 cap space number every week in my weekly incentives tracking report. You can find my Week 13 report here. Here's my current estimate for the Patriots 2018 cap space number. Please note that since this estimate will change frequently between today and March 14, 2018 — the first day of the new league year -- so I'll answer this question on a regular basis:

League cap: $178,000,000
Prior year carryover: $3,200,000
Adjustment: $1,800,000
Patriots adjusted cap: $183,000,000
2018 cap commitment: $166,900,000 (After tendering Ted Karras as an ERFA and signing 10 practice squad players to future contracts, the Patriots should have 62 players signed or tendered for the 2018 season.)
2018 CAP SPACE: $16,100,000

Have a question for a future PatsCap mailbag? You can send those to him at any time via email (patscap@bostonsportsjournal.com), or you can Tweet them to him here.