Miguel's mailbag 01.24.19: Questions about Julian Edelman, Phillip Dorsett, Trent Brown, Super Bowl experience and more

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

Question from Twitter follower Kyle: Did any players on the Patriots have bonuses for reaching the Super Bowl?



Answer: There's only one Patriot with a playoff-related incentive -- Julian Edelman. He could have earned $500,000 with eighty receptions and a Super Bowl appearance. He ended the regular season with seventy-four receptions. Postseason stats don't count in his incentives.

Question from Twitter follower James Wood: What kind of contract is Phillip Dorsett going to get? When is James White signed through?

Answer: I can see Dorsett getting an four-year incentive-laden deal with a base value of $10 million and a maximum value of $16 million. White is signed through 2020.

Question from Twitter follower Sam Williams: No. 1 need for the offseason?

Answer: Defensive line. Could see both Malcom Brown and Danny Shelton leaving the Patriots during free agency -- I expect Adrian Clayborn to be released.

Question from Twitter follower Webby2004: What's the Super Bowl experience of all the players? How many players have been on the four outta 5 teams?

Answer: The below 38 players have played in a total of 85 Super Bowls.
[table id=237 /]

Tom Brady, Stephen Gostkowski, Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung, Matthew Slater, Ryan Allen, James White, James Develin and Duron Harmon will all play in their fourth Super Bowl (2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018) in five years.

Question from Twitter follower Nathaniel: What is the tag for an offensive tackle?

Answer: If the league cap is $190 million, it'll be $14.077 million. Like to thank Joel Corry for this bit of information.

Question from Twitter follower Mark: Do you think they will try to resign Trent Brown even with Wynn coming back?

Answer: I expect Brown to do very well in free agency and land a four-year deal worth at least $52 million with another team, while the Patriots will receive a 2020 third-round compensatory pick as a consolation prize.

Question from Twitter follower Big Wally ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Man in Members Only Jacket:  Miguel, of the Pats free agents coming up, do you see any getting a tender, either 2nd round or low?

Answer: Jonathan Jones is the only Patriot currently scheduled to become an RFA (Restricted Free Agent). There are three RFA tenders: first round, second round, and low tender:

* First-round tender: Allows the team to receive compensation of a first-round pick – $4.425 million (projected)
* Second-round tender: Allows the team to receive compensation of 2nd round pick – $3.108 million (projected)
* Low tender: Allows the team to receive compensation of a draft pick equal to the round in which the player was originally drafted, or the Right of First Refusal (ROFR) for an undrafted player – $2.034 million (projected)

The above tender amounts are just projections at this point. Under the terms of the CBA, the RFA tender amounts increase at the same rate as the overall salary cap, with the minimum increase being five percent and the maximum increase 10 percent. An increase in the salary cap from $177.2 million to $189 million would represent a 6.659 percent increase in the cap, so the above estimates for the RFA tenders are based on that 6.659 percent increase.

Since he was undrafted, the Patriots would not receive any compensation if they tendered Jones at the lowest level and they did not match another team's offer sheet. Unless the Patriots extend Jones, I expect him to receive the second-round tender when the 2019 League Year begins on March 13th.

Question from Twitter follower Pats Fan/Suns Fan: Is the Matt Slater option a team option or player option?

Answer: It is a team option.

Question from Twitter follower Bobby: does your $17.9 million cap number include the $5 million credit the Pats are due for Brady not reaching his NTLBE?

Answer: Yes. It also accounts for the $3,173,423 in 2018 cap space the Patriots will be carrying over into 2019.

Question: What is your current Patriots 2019 salary cap space number?
Answer -- League cap (Projected): $189,000,000
Prior year carryover: $3,173,423
Adjustment (Projected) : $5,241,532
Patriots adjusted cap: $197,414,955
2019 cap commitment: $179,441,377 with 59 signed players. The 59 players presumes Patriots signing their practice squad after the Super Bowl and tendering their ERFAs.
2019 CAP SPACE: $17,973,579

Question: What was 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.