Miguel's Mailbag 09.04.18: Questions on the cap, quarterbacks, and when players get paid

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Question from Twitter follower John Vespo III: Where does the Pats 2019 cap situation currently stand? How much are they projected to have?



Answer: This gives me the opportunity to introduce my salary cap pages. You can find the 2019 one here. In order to best answer John's question, I need to explain how cap space is calculated. A team's cap space is the difference between its adjusted cap number and its total cap commitments. A team's adjusted cap number is the number is the sum of the following three numbers:

1. The League Cap number. I am using $188,000,000, which is in line with the recent increases. We usually do not learn the official number until late February or early March. We have yet to hear an official projection.

2. Prior Year Carryover. As of now, I expect the Patriots to carry over $1,000,000 in cap space. Why so little? I expect them to continue replacing injured players, and for a good number of Patriots to earn their NLTBE (Not Likely to Be Earned) 46-man active roster bonuses.

3. Adjustments. I expect more Patriots (most notably, Rob Gronkowski) to earn their NLTBE incentives than to not earn LTBE incentives. Please note: I track the progress of how each Patriot is doing to earn their incentives and will be giving you regular updates.

By the time the 2019 League Year begins on March 13, I'm confident the Patriots will have at least 51 players on their roster. Why? Right after their season ends, the Patriots sign their practice squad players to contracts for the following season.

Just to keep it simple, I am using round numbers in the below table.

[table id=132 /]

As you can see, the Patriots will have about $10 million in cap space. But that's before the inevitable moves that will create cap space like:

1. Cutting or restructuring Dwayne Allen whose 2019 cap hit remains at $7.4 million after his recent restructure. Allen could be cut or traded before March 14 at 4 p.m. and there will be no dead money on the  salary cap.

2. Extend or trade Gronkowski, lowering his 2019 cap number of $12 million.

3. Extend Tom Brady, which would lower his 2019 cap number of $27 million

4. The trio of Devin McCourty ($13,435,000), Adrian Clayborn ($6 million), and Kyle Van Noy ($5.9 million) all have to show in 2018 that they will be worth keeping at their current cap numbers.

Summary, the Patriots are in OK to good salary cap shape for the 2019 season.

Question from Twitter follower Truck: It seems like in the NFL, the best way to win is with a quarterback on a rookie contract. With that in mind, could we see more teams pass on potential franchise quarterbacks because they are too expensive (which will cause a dip in the market)? Or will the market keep rising?

Answer: Given how important the quarterback position is, I can't see a team who needs one ever bypassing the opportunity to acquire a potential franchise quarterback. I expect the market for elite quarterbacks to continue to rise. That's a good thing, because there should be more differentiation among the APYs between the starting quarterbacks.

Email question from BSJ subscriber Stan: What are some of the possible reasons the Patriots placed Ryan Izzo on the active roster before putting him on IR? I know it is possible he can return, if starting on the active roster, but there must be other differences and/or reasons. Just curious.

Answer: My only guess -- and it is just a guess -- is that the Patriots were waiting on more medical information about the severity of his injury. It had nothing to do with the cap, since when he goes on IR during his rookie year is not relevant. It had nothing to do with the timing of going on IR, since starting this year rookies can be placed on IR without going through waivers.

Question from Twitter follower Dylan Little: Who’s your favorite patriots practice squad member?

Answer: James Ferentz. He has been grinding away attempting to make NFL rosters since 2013. Like that type of determination.

Question from Twitter follower Jake: Do NFL players get paid on the bye week?

Answer: Yes, NFL players get paid during the regular season's bye week, so they get 17 paychecks.

Here are a couple of salary cap tidbits: The players on the 53-man rosters of the teams who have earned a playoff bye do not get paid during wild-card week during their playoffs or for the bye week before the Super Bowl. They are essentially practicing for free those two weeks. Practice squad players are paid weekly throughout the regular season and the postseason.

Question from Twitter follower Stephen Wright: How do training camp and preseason salaries work? Is it based on base salary or set amount? Count against the cap at all?

Answer: This year rookies receive weekly “per diem” payments of $1,075. All other players received $1,900. This per diem pay is considered a benefit and therefore does not count against the cap.

Question from Twitter follower Sean: Is Webb PS eligible? He cleared waivers.

Answer: If referring to Davis Webb, then the answer is yes. Ralph Webb is already on the Patriots practice squad.

Question from Twitter follower Bruise: What do you make of the raiders cap/cash-strapped situation? Do you have a feel for how the pats manage cash flow vs cap?

Answer: Because teams got a $255 million national revenue check, I do not accept the argument the Raiders are "cash-strapped." But let's say they were. They chose to spend $55 million this year on veteran free agents like Doug Martin and Jordy Nelson instead of allocating that cash to their best player. As for the Patriots their cash spending is like a roller-coaster ride. One year (2017) it is up. The following year (2018) it will be down.

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.