Miguel's Mailbag: Questions on Le'Veon Bell, positional spending, incentives, and more

All right, everyone. Let's dive into this week's questions:

Question from Twitter follower Ryan La Salle: Even if the Steelers don't pay Le'Veon Bell the $14.5 million, does it still count against the Steelers cap?



Answer: No, the Steelers will get a credit for the rest of his salary in the next couple of days. Check the NFLPA public salary cap page now and on weekend. You should see a $6 million difference, unless the Steelers extend another player this week.

Question from Twitter follower patsfb: Will Pittsburgh get a comp pick in 2020 for Bell?

Answer: Yes, in 2020 AND if the Steelers lose more compensatory free agents than they sign during the qualifying period in 2019.

Question from Twitter follower Nick Collins Can someone please explain to me what happened (with Bell)? Wasn’t that if he didn’t show up by Tuesday, he wouldn’t get a year of service, and therefore not become a free agent? What changed?

Answer: The assumption Bell needed 2018 to be an accrued season for him in order to become a UFA in 2019 was wrong. Bell already had four accrued seasons.

Question from Twitter follower TheShellzShow What you think (Bell) will make on the open market? I think he'll get 50m guaranteed.

Answer: Less than it will take to make up for missing the 2018 season. The NFL Network reported Bell turned down this year a five-year deal worth $70 million. Bell will now have to earn that $70 million in four years (a $17.5 million APY) to make up for missing 2018. Bell will be 27 years old in March of 2019 with five seasons under his belt. Todd Gurley was 24 years old and had thre seasons of experience when he signed his $14,375,000 APY extension in July. Bell has been suspended a couple of times. Gurley has never been suspended. The case Bell should be worth a great deal more than the younger, fresher Gurley is weak, especially considering Bell's suspension risk. Yet it only takes one team to value Bell as a $17.5 million APY player for the deal to happen. As for Bell getting $50 million guaranteed, I doubt that Bell will get $50 million fully guaranteed at time of signing. That $50 million is more fully guaranteed money than both Gurley and David Johnson got combined at the time of their extensions.

An email question from BSJ subscriber Niall Curran: Hi Miguel, Interesting article today showing the potential cap hit from all the NLTBE roster bonuses between now and week 17. Do you have an overview/tracker of projected final net hit from bonuses between NLTBE bonuses that are on track to be paid and LTBE bonuses that are not on target? I can't remember if the unearned LBTE credits count against this year's cap or next years.

Answer: I hope to finish my tracking incentives piece sometime this week. It will project how much the incentive adjustments the Patriots will receive. If a dozen Patriots are active for all six remaining games, the team will lose a total of $1.65 million in cap space. It's worth noting there are also $8,225,000 in LTBE incentives counting on the Patriots salary cap. Below is my current projection of the likelihood of those incentives being earned.

Unlikely: $3,675,000
Possible: $1,000,000
Probable: $3,550,000
Total: $8,225,000

Please note the Patriots will receive a credit on their 2019 cap for any unearned LTBE incentives.

Question from Twitter follower Jason Sullivan: I was going to try and figure out the ramifications, but then figured I'd defer to the master. If the Pats cut (Marcus) Cannon after 2019, how would that affect them? My thinking being with (Isaiah) Wynn losing a year, they’d ideally have him be a swing in 2019 (re-signing Trent Brown) then RT.

Answer: Cannon's 2020 cap number is $7,750,000. If cut, his dead money would be $1,400,000. The Patriots would create close to $6 million in cap space by releasing Cannon anytime before he earns his offseason workout bonuses or weight bonuses.

Question from Twitter follower Boston: (What is the) chance (Nicholas) Grigsby will land on PS? He's a decent ST player.

Answer: Good. Grigsby, who was waived by the Patriots earlier this week, is eligible for the practice squad.

Question from Twitter follower B. Waite: With Dwayne Allen being injured now and Jacob Hollister and Gronk both having injury issues during the season do you think Stephen Anderson will be brought up from the PS?

Answer: Certainly possible. Wonder if the Patriots will poach a blocking tight-end from another team's practice squad.

Question from Twitter follower bfs82466: Is the Pats cap distributed among players in any way distinctly different than last year?

Answer: [table id=188 /]

Question: What is Player X's 2018 cap number?

Answer: Please see my 2018 salary cap page.

Question: What is Player X's 2019 cap number?

Answer: Please see my 2019 salary cap page.

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.