Over the weekend we learned the Patriots paid Lawrence Guy a $500,000 signing bonus after he just missed earning a playing-time incentive. Since that report changed my incentives numbers, I decided that it would be a good time to go over those totals again.
Background
A team's adjusted cap consists of three numbers:
- League cap number
- Prior year carryover adjustments for Likely To Be Earned (LTBE)/Not Likely To Be Earned (NLTBE) incentives
- Adjustments for Likely To Be Earned (LTBE)/Not Likely To Be Earned (NLTBE) incentives. In 2017, the Patriots were debited a total of $1,006,553 against their 2017 adjusted cap number because of LTBE/NTLBE calculations.
Vince Wilfork
Earned LTBE incentives:
Unearned LTBE incentives:
Earned NTLBE incentives:
Unearned NLTBE incentives:
not
Rob Gronkowski
James Develin
bolding the earned incentives
italicizing the unearned incentives.
Dont'a Hightower
Unearned
Dont'a Hightower
Unearned since Hightower played in 22 percent of the defensive snaps this season.
Matthew Slater
Earned
Matthew Slater
OR
Earned with the Patriots' victory over the Jets on New Year's Eve
Patrick Chung
Earned since Chung played in 87.6 percent of the defensive snaps this season.
Patrick Chung
Earned (See above for reason)
Patrick Chung
Earned since Chung played in 87.6 percent of the defensive snaps this season AND the Patriots won 13 regular-season games in 2017
Patrick Chung
Earned since Chung played in 87.6 percent of the defensive snaps this season AND the Patriots were the 2017 AFC champions
Patrick Chung
Earned since Chung played in 87.6 percent of the defensive snaps this season.
James Develin
Earned since Develin played in 30.35 percent of the offensive snaps.
James Develin
Earned (See above for reason).
David Harris
Unearned since Harris played in 23 percent of the defensive snaps.
David Harris
Unearned. (See above for reason.)
Alan Branch
Unearned since Branch played in 25.73 percent of the defensive snaps.
Alan Branch
Unearned. (See above for reasons.)
Julian Edelman
Unearned since Edelman spent the entire 2017 season on Injured Reserve.
Unearned: $3,000,000
Earned: $2,100,000
$3,000,000
bolding the earned incentives
italicizing the unearned incentives.
Ryan Allen
Unearned.
Nate Solder
Unearned.
Nate Ebner
Unearned.
Dont'a Hightower
Unearned.
Dont'a Hightower
Unearned since Hightower played in only 22.34 percent of the defensive snaps.
Johnson Bademosi
Unearned.
Johnson Bademosi
Unearned since Bademosi did not have an interception.
Johnson Bademosi
Unearned since Bademosi played in only 20.26 percent of the defensive snaps
LaAdrian Waddle
Unearned since Waddle played in only 29.5 percent of the offensive snaps
LaAdrian Waddle
Unearned (See above for reason)
Dion Lewis
Unearned since Dion Lewis played in only 35.4 percent of the offensive snaps.
Dion Lewis
Unearned (See above for reason).
Dion Lewis
Unearned (See above for reason).
Lawrence Guy
Earned since Guy played in 54.85 percent of the defensive snaps.
Lawrence Guy
Unearned since Guy played in 54.85 percent of the defensive snaps. Missed earning this incentive by just two snaps. See this post for more information.
Lawrence Guy
Unearned since Guy played in only 54.85 percent of the defensive snaps.
Duron Harmon
Earned since Harmon played in 65.6 percent of the defensive snaps.
Duron Harmon
Unearned since Harmon played in 65.6 percent of the defensive snaps.
Alan Branch
Unearned since Branch played in 25.73 percent of the defensive snaps.
Shea McClellin
Unearned since McClellin spent the entire 2017 season on Injured Reserve.
Shea McClellin
Unearned.
* Rob Gronkowski's $1 million incentive could have been earned in one of the following four ways:
- Scores 10 touchdowns
- Catches 60 passes
- Has 800 receiving yards
- 70 percent playing-time
Earned since Gronkowski played in 79 percent of the offensive snaps but superseded by Gronkowski reaching the highest tier.
* Rob Gronkowski's $3 million incentive could have been earned in one of the following four ways:
- 80 percent playing-time
- Scores 12 touchdowns
- Catches 70 passes
- Has 1,000 receiving yards
Earned since Gronkowski has 1,084 receiving yards for the season but superseded by Gronkowski reaching the highest tier.
* Rob Gronkowski's $5.5 million incentive could have been earned in one of the following five ways:
- 90 percent playing-time
- Scores 14 touchdowns
- Catches 80 passes
- Has 1,200 receiving yards
- Named first-team All-Pro
Earned with Gronkowski being named to the AP All-Pro first team.
Summary
Unearned: $7,400,000
Earned: $6,150,000
- Gronkowski's $5.5 million incentive that was earned with the AP All-Pro honor.
- Guy's $400,000 50 percent playing-time incentive
- Slater's $150,000 Pro Bowl honor
- Slater's $50,000 13 wins
- Harmon's $250,000 60 percent playing-time incentive
- Chung's $200,000 65 percent playing-time incentive
- Chung's $400,000 75 percent playing-time incentive
- Chung's $300,000 80 percent playing-time incentive AND 13 wins
- Chung's $500,000 85 percent playing-time incentive
- Develin's $100,000 20 percent playing-time incentive
- Develin's $100,000 30 percent playing-time incentive
- Chung's $300,000 80 percent playing-time incentive AND a Super Bowl appearance
Rex Burkhead
Stephon Gilmore
Austin Carr:
D.J. Killings:
Cody Hollister:
Brooks Ellis:
Jason King:
David Jones:
Kenny Moore:
LeShun Daniels:
Jason Thompson:
Credits:
Unearned LTBE incentives:
Unearned LTBE 46-man active roster bonuses:
Guaranteed Salary Offset Credit:
Total Credits:
plus
minus
League Cap:
Prior Year Carryover:
Adjustment:
Patriots Adjusted Cap:
2018 Cap Commitment:
2018 Cap Space
Q: What would happen to a player's 2018 cap number if he reaches a NLTBE incentive in 2017?
Q: When should we expect the official League Cap number to be announced?
Q: After projecting all season long that Matthew Slater would not garner the Pro Bowl honor, how surprised are you that he did?
Q: Besides the already mentioned players what Patriots have incentives for the 2018 season whose likeliness to be earned classification will be determined by how they do in 2017?
- David Andrews has two playing-time incentives that commence in 2018. He will earn $250,000 if he plays in at least 65 percent of the snaps in 2018. He will earn another $450,000 if he plays in 85 percent. Since he averaged playing 87.3 percent of the snaps in the 2017 season, both incentives will now be considered LTBE for the 2018 season increasing his 2018 cap number by $700,000 to $2,350,000
- James White has four incentives that commence in the 2018 season. He will earn $250,000 if he plays in at least 50 percent of the snaps in 2018, and will earn another $250,000 if he plays in 60 percent. He will earn $250,000 if he has 1,000 total yards from scrimmage and another $250,000 if he has 1,200 total yards from scrimmage. White played in 35.6 percent of the snaps in the 2017 season and had 600 yards from scrimmage so none of his four incentives will be considered LTBE for the 2018 season.
Q: How else can playing-time affect the Patriots cap?
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