Salary cap recap 09.28.18: Moves with Burkhead, Simon and others lowers Patriots cap space by over $1.4 million

Measuring the moves the Patriots made the last couple of days and their impact on the salary cap:


1. On Wednesday, they placed Rex Burkhead on injured reserve. His 2018 cap number remains $2,319,595. The Patriots will receive a credit of at least $62,500 on their 2019 cap if Burkhead misses the minimum number of games -- eight. The credit amount will increase to $218,750 if Burkhead is inactive for the rest of the regular season.

2. The Patriots also placed Ja'whaun Bentley on injured reserve Wednesday. Since his 2018 salary decreased from $480,000 to $363,000, Bentley's 2018 cap number decreased from $555,988 to $459,635. Ultimately, being placed on IR will cost Bentley $96,353.

3. To replace Burkhead the Patriots re-signed running back Kenjon Barner to the 53-man roster. Barner's salary and cap number are $518,823.

4. To replace Bentley, the Patriots signed DE/OLB John Simon. His $1,071,323 cap number consists of:

$658,823 salary ($800,000 divided by 17 weeks times the 14 remaining weeks)
$112,500 in roster bonuses
$300,000 in Likely to be Earned (LTBE) incentives. Please note that any incentives included in a deal signed after the start of the regular season are automatically classified LTBE.

5. Signed safety David Jones to the practice squad. His cap number is $106,400 or 14/17ths of $129,200, the minimum salary for a practice squad player.

6. They made room for Coleman by releasing Jace Billingsley from the practice squad. Billingsley made $15,200 during his second stint of the year on New England's practice squad.

7. We are still waiting to learn the amount of Malcolm Mitchell's grievance settlement.  His grievance amount of $252,000 remains on the Patriots salary cap. The Boston Herald's Kevin Duffy tweeted earlier this month the grievance had been settled.

The net effect of this week's moves is to lower the Patriots salary cap space number from $3,551,370 to $2,131,152.

Answering some logical follow-up questions:

Question: When can Burkhead and Bentley play again with the Patriots?

Answer: The Vikings game on December 2. Per a bylaws change this year they have to miss eight games, not eight weeks.

Question: When can the players who have previously reached injury settlements re-sign with the Patriots?

Answer: Jordan Matthews - after Week 3. Please note that Matthews is currently on the Eagles roster.
Nate Theaker - after Week 4
Will Tye - after Week 7
Luke Bowanko - after Week 9

Question: Who are the current members of the Patriots practice squad?

Answer:

1. QB Danny Etling


2. OL James Ferentz


3. CB Jomal Wiltz


4. RB Ralph Webb


5. DL Trent Harris


6. DT Vincent Valentine


7. OL Eric Smith


8. TE Stephen Anderson


9. WR Corey Coleman


10. S David Jones

1. Isaiah Wynn


2. Jeremy Hill - Eligible to be designated for return


3. Duke Dawson - Eligible to be designated for return


4. Ryan Izzo


5. Braxton Berrios


6. Christian Sam


7. Ulrick John


8. Rex Burkhead - Eligible to be designated for return


9. Ja'Whaun Bentley - Eligible to be designated for return