Salary cap recap 08.15.18: Patriots 2018 cap space number increases by over $200,000

Measuring some of the moves the Patriots made in the last few days and their impact on the salary cap:



1. It appears $400,000 of Eric Decker's receptions-based incentives in his new Patriots' deal have been classified LTBE (Likely to Be Earned) by the NFLPA, increasing his 2018 cap number to $1,900,000.

It consists of:

-- $950,000 salary
-- $75,000 signing bonus
-- $150,000 Week 1 roster bonus
-- $400,000 in LTBE (Likely to Be Earned Incentives)
-- $325,000 46-man roster bonuses ($20,312.50 per game)

Decker has $200,000 in NLTBE incentives. These two different classifications of his incentives confirms our earlier suspicion that Decker's incentives were tiered. Since Decker had 54 receptions in 2017, his tiers may look like this:

-- $200,000 for 40 receptions (LTBE)
-- another $200,000 for 50 receptions (LTBE)
-- another $200,000 for 60 receptions (NLTBE)

or something like:

-- $100,000 for 40 receptions (LTBE)
-- $150,000 for 45 receptions (LTBE)
-- another $150,000 for 50 receptions (LTBE)
-- $100,000 for 55 receptions (NLTBE)
-- another $100,000 for 60 receptions (NTBE)

2. Shane Wimann's $2,500 in fully guaranteed salary hit the Patriots salary cap as dead money.

3. The NFLPA is finally including Troy Niklas' $100,000 fully guaranteed salary in his dead money amount,which means his total dead money amount is $257,095. (This also means my salary cap number of $7,631,955 matches the NFLPA's.) Please note -- if Niklas receives any cash from any other NFL team this season, the Patriots will receive a credit on their 2019 salary cap for up to $100,000.

4. Now the individual offseason workout bonuses were added to each player's cap number, the NFLPA has removed their $619,200 placeholder from every team's adjusted cap number calculation.

Some background: At the start of each league year, the NFLPA subtracts the $619,200 from each team's adjustment, and after the individual amounts are recorded, the $619,000 subtraction is removed from the adjusted cap number calculation, thereby increasing each team's salary cap space by $619,200. (The $619,000 is 80 players times 36 sessions times $215 per individual session.)

To sum up, the $619,200 in cap space from the offseason workout bonus placeholder removal minus $400,000 increase in Decker's cap number minus  Wimann's $2,500 guaranteed salary equals a $216,700 increase in the Patriots salary cap number.

$619,200
- $400,000
- $ 2,500
===========
$216,700

Answering some logical follow-up questions:

Question: How many players are now on the Patriots active roster?

Answer: By my count, 89. The offseason limit is 90.

Question: What is the positional breakdown of the Patriots roster?

Answer:

I consider Matthew Slater, Brandon Bolden, Nate Ebner, Nicholas Grigsby, and Brandon King special teamers.

Question: What is your current Patriots 2018 salary cap space number?
Answer -- League cap: $177,200,000
Prior year carryover: $3,012,602
Adjustment: $17,187
Patriots adjusted cap: $180,229,789
2018 cap commitment: $172,597,834 with 91 signed players. The Patriots have placed Darren Andrews and Cody Hollister on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list.
2018 CAP SPACE: $7,631,955

Question: How many Patriots players are signed for the 2019 season?

Answer: Fifty-three, with a total cap commitment of $169,185,794.

Question: How many Patriots players are signed for the 2020 season?

Answer: Thirty-one, with a total cap commitment of $83,011,249.

Question: How many Patriots players are signed for the 2021 season?

Answer: Twelve, with a total cap commitment of $35,901,217

Question: How many Patriots players are signed for the 2022 season?

Answer: One (Joe Cardona), with a total cap commitment of $1,210,000

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