What needs to happen in finale for 7 Patriots to earn $2.15 million in incentives?

In an attempt to give you the most accurate projections of the Patriots 2019 adjusted cap number and 2019 salary cap space number -- as well as who could be in line for a big payday -- I'll track the Patriots 2018 incentives.



BACKGROUND

LTBE incentives count against the team’s salary cap in the year, they're scheduled to be earned. All but one (46-man active roster) NLTBE bonuses do not. Whether or not the player accomplished the feat in the prior year determines if the incentive will be considered LTBE (Likely to Be Earned) or NLTBE (Not Likely to Be Earned). By way of example, since Julian Edelman he was not active for any games in 2017 all of his 46-man active roster bonuses are considered NLTBE for this year.

Earned LTBE incentives: Since they already count against the current year's cap, earning LTBE incentives will not change the player's cap number.
Unearned LTBE incentives: When a player does not earn an LTBE incentive, his team will then receive a credit on next years' cap.
Earned NTLBE incentives: Forty-six man active roster bonuses count against current year's cap. All other earned NLBTE incentives count as a debit against next year's cap.
Unearned NLTBE incentives: When a player does not earn an NLTBE incentive, it has no impact on current year's cap or on next year's cap since the incentive was not counting against the team's salary cap.

With that in mind, let's look at what players can earn incentives on Sunday.

A total of $2.15 million in incentives can be earned by the following Patriots

• Edelman - $500,000


• Guy - $400,000


• White - $250,000


• Harmon - $250,000


• Hightower - $500,000


• McCourty - $200,000


• Dorsett - $50,000

• 1,057 receiving yards.


• 70 receptions plus seven TDs.


• 80 receptions plus Super Bowl appearance.

• have 276 receiving yards Sunday OR


• score two touchdowns OR


• Catch 11 passes against the Jets AND the Patriots win the AFC.

• A 50 percent play-time incentive -- White, who has a 55 percent play-time percentage, has already played enough snaps to earn this incentive.


• A 60 percent playing-time incentive -- Can't be earned since, even if the Patriots offense plays 100 snaps Week 17 and White were to play all of them, his play-time percentage for the year would be 58.51.


• 1,000 total yards from scrimmage -- White, who has 1,107 total yards from scrimmage, has already earned this incentive.


• 1,200 total yards from scrimmage -- White needs to have at least 93 scrimmage yards against the Jets to earn this incentive.

• A $500,000 Pro Bowl incentive -- Unearned.


• A $500,000 All-Pro incentive -- Unlikely, given the performance of other linebackers such as Khalil Mack, Bobby Wagner, and Luke Kuechly and that Hightower was not named to the Pro Bowl team.


• A 65 percent $375,000 play-time incentive -- Hightower is at 73 percent when it comes to his play-time percentage -- he's already played enough snaps to earn this incentive.


• A 70 percent $250,000 play-time incentive -- Hightower will have to play more than twenty percent of the snaps to earn this incentive.


• A 75 percent $250,000 play-time incentive -- The Pats defense would have to play over sixty-five snaps Sunday AND Hightower would have to play in nearly all of them for him to earn this incentive.


• An 80 percent $125,000 play-time incentive -- Can't be earned, since even if the Patriots defense plays 100 snaps Week 17 and Hightower were to play all of them, his playing-time percentage for the year would be 75.8.

• 40 percent -- Earned. If the Patriots defense plays its average of 66 snaps against the Jets game and McCourty does not play in the game, his playing-time percentage will be 76.83 percent.


• 50 percent -- Earned for the above reason.


• 60 percent -- Earned for the above reason.


• 70 percent -- Earned for the above reason.


• 80 percent -- McCourty will have to play more than half of the snaps Sunday to earn this incentive.

• Finishing in the Top 5 in passer rating -- Brady has a passer rating of 97.6, but can't finish in the Top 5. He's currently 17th.


• Finishing in the Top 5 in completion percentage -- Brady is currently completing 65.4 percent of his passes, but he can't finish in the Top 5. He's currently 19th.


• Finishing in the Top 5 in yards per attempt -- While Brady is currently 13th with a YPA of 7.64, he can't finish in the Top 5. Deshaun Watson, who is in fifth place, has a YPA of 8.36.


• Finishing in the Top 5 in touchdown passes -- Brady is currently tied for 11th with 25 touchdown passes. He is eight touchdown passes behind Matt Ryan and Ben Roethlisberger both of whom are tied for fourth place. There is no chance Brady will finish in the Top 5 in this category.


• Finishing in the Top 5 in passing yards -- Brady is currently ninth with 4,105 passing yards. He's 311 yards behind Aaron Rodgers, who is in fifth place with 4,416 passing yards.

• Scoring nine touchdowns incentive -- Gronkowski would have to score six touchdowns.


• Catching 70 passes -- Gronkowski, who has 45 receptions, would have to catch 25 passes.


• Having 1,085 receiving yards -- Gronkowski, who has 658 receiving yards, would have to have 437 receiving yards.


• Playing in 80 percent of the snaps -- Even if the Patriots offense were to play 100 snaps Week 17 and Gronkowski were to play in 100 percent of them, his play-time percentage for the year would only be 76.74 percent.

• 20 percent -- Earned. Waddle has already played enough snaps to earn this incentive.


• 40 percent -- Can't be earned since even if the Patriots offense plays 100 snaps Week 17 and Waddle were to play all of them, his play-time percentage for the year would be 37.9 percent


• 60 percent -- Can't be earned for the same reason.


• 80 percent -- Can't be earned for the same reason.

• 55 percent worth $300,000 -- Can't be earned since even if the Patriots defense plays 100 snaps Week 17 and Clayborn were to play all of them, his play-time percentage for the year would be 39.83 percent


• 60 percent worth $300,000 -- Can't be earned for the same reason.


• 65 percent worth $400,000 -- Can't be earned for the same reason.


• 75 percent worth $500,000 -- Can't be earned for the same reason.

• A 40 percent play-time incentive -- Can't be earned since even if the Patriots offense plays 100 snaps Week 17 and Burkhead were to play all of them, his play-time percentage for the year would only be 20.


• A 50 percent playing-time incentive -- Can't be earned for the same reason.


• A 60 percent playing-time incentive -- Can't be earned for the same reason.


• 1,000 total yards from scrimmage -- Can't be earned for the same reason since Burkhead has only 285 yards from scrimmage.


• 1,200 total yards from scrimmage -- Can't be earned for the same reason.

• A $375,000 50 percent play-time incentive -- Can't be earned, since even if the Patriots offense plays 100 snaps Week 17 and Allen were to play all of them, his play-time percentage for the year would be 37.85 percent.


• A $250,000 60 percent play-time incentive -- Can't be earned for the same reason.


• A $500,000 30 receptions incentive -- Can't be earned for the same reason since Allen has only 3 receptions and would have to catch 27 passes Sunday to earn this incentive

• A $350,000 Pro Bowl incentive -- Unearned.


• A $350,000 55 percent play-time incentive -- Can't be earned, since even if the Patriots offense plays 100 snaps Week 17 and Patterson were to play all of them, his play-time percentage for the year would only be 29.


• A $350,000 70 percent play-time incentive -- Can't be earned for the same reason.


• A $350,000 50 receptions incentive -- Can't be earned for the same reason since Patterson has only 21 receptions and would have to catch 29 passes Sunday to earn this incentive


• A $350,000 70 receptions incentive -- Can't be earned for the same reason.

• Edelman (two touchdowns) - $500,000


• Guy (two-thirds play-time) - $400,000


• White (93 total yards from scrimmage) - $250,000


• Harmon (at least sixty percent play-time) - $250,000


• Hightower (at least twenty percent play-time) - $250,000


• Hightower (close to all of the snaps as long as the defense plays at least 65 snaps) - $250,000


• McCourty (more than half play-time) - $200,000


• Dorsett (three receptions) - $50,000