Measuring the moves the Patriots made the last couple of days and their impact on the salary cap:
1. Former Patriots linebacker Shea McClellin qualified for the injury protection benefit. The benefit is for fifty percent of his 2018 salary or $1,075,000.
2. I have learned the 2018 salaries of Darren Andrews and Cody Hollister. (You may remember they were placed on the Non-Football Injury list earlier this year.) Andrews is making $5,000 a week, or $85,000 for the 2018 season, while Hollister is being paid the same as a practice squad player -- $7,600 a week, or $129,200 for the season. Teams are not required to pay players while they are on the NFI list, but if they do, the player's salary will count against the team's cap. Before this change, their salaries were listed as $363,000 apiece. So the Patriots gain $511,800 in cap space now the NFLPA has finally inputted the salaries correctly into their database.
3. Wide receiver Kenny Britt filed an injury grievance against the Patriots. His grievance amount of $420,000 is now on the Patriots salary cap.
To sum up, here's what happened:
The Patriots cap space number on September 28 was $2,154,093. The McClellin injury protection benefit decreased it by $1,075,000, while the Britt grievance lowered it by $420,000. The $233,800 decrease in Hollister's cap number and the $278,000 decrease in Andrews' cap number increased the Patriots salary cap number by $511,800. After these four transactions, New England's salary cap space number on September 29 was $1,170,893.
4. On September 29, the Patriots released wide receiver Corey Coleman from the practice squad. Coleman made $15,200 during his brief time on New England's practice squad.
5. The Patriots activated Julian Edelman, ending his roster exemption. He earned a NLTBE (Not Likely to be Earned) 46-man active roster bonus in the amount of $31,250. That bonus increased his 2018 cap number by $31,250 to $3,734,423. Please note -- NLTBE 46-man active roster bonuses hit the current year's cap once they're earned.
6. The Patriots made room on their 53-man roster for Edelman by releasing Kenjon Barner. Barner earned $74,118 during his second stint on New England's roster. The Patriots created $444,706 in cap space with Barner's release, since they are no longer responsible for paying him for the last twelve weeks of the 2018 season.
We are still waiting to learn the amount of Malcolm Mitchell's grievance settlement -- his grievance amount of $252,000 remains on the Patriots cap. The Boston Herald's Kevin Duffy tweeted in late September that Mitchell's grievance had been settled.
The net effect of this week's moves is to lower the Patriots salary cap space number from $2,131,152 to $1,660,207
Please note that I will soon be doing a two-part series that will be answering these two questions:
1.) Why is the Patriots cap space number so low?
2.) What can the Patriots do to increase their cap space?
Answering some logical follow-up questions:
Question: When can the eligible players on IR play again with the Patriots?
Answer: Duke Dawson can play in the Week 9 game against the Packers while Rex Burkhead can play in 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:
- QB Danny Etling
- OL James Ferentz
- CB Jomal Wiltz
- RB Ralph Webb
- DL Trent Harris
- DT Vincent Valentine
- OL Eric Smith
- TE Stephen Anderson
- S David Jones
- Isaiah Wynn
- Jeremy Hill - Eligible to be designated for return
- Duke Dawson - Eligible to be designated for return
- Ryan Izzo
- Braxton Berrios
- Christian Sam
- Ulrick John
- Rex Burkhead - Eligible to be designated for return
- Ja'Whaun Bentley - Eligible to be designated for return
