PatsCap: Patriots now have 12 draft picks - how much is that going to affect the cap?

With today's announcement that the Patriots were awarded four compensatory picks, I thought it would be a good time to project how much cap space it will take to sign the 2019 Patriots draft class

(With Brian McFarland's permission, I'm using his fine work here as a template for this blog post.)

After the 2019 draft is over, we'll hear the exact amount allocated for the Patriots' 2019 rookie pool. This is an oft-misunderstood number, because while it is part of the team’s salary cap, it doesn't have a dollar-for-dollar impact on the team’s overall salary cap.

The rookie cap is often referred to as “a cap within a cap” because it limits the amount teams can allocate to their rookies in the year they were drafted (and over the life of the rookies’ contracts). There is a lot of confusion about the rookie cap and how it works.

Here's a breakdown of why there are misconceptions.

The Rule of 51, in Article 13 of the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, says from the start of the league year until the morning of the first game of the regular season, only the highest 51 salary cap numbers and all of the pro-rata shares of bonus money for the players outside of the top 51 count toward the team’s overall cap. All “dead money,” i.e. amounts counting against the salary cap for players who are no longer on the roster, counts as well.

During this offseason, I will determine the Patriots' total salary cap commitment number by not counting the base salaries of all players who do not have one of fifty-one highest cap numbers. One of my Excel formulas is =IF(E43="Yes",SUM(G43:K43),SUM(H43:K43)) where column E contains the player's salary cap rank and column G contains the player's salary.

This rule is necessary because, during the offseason, team rosters can have up to 90 players. As such, it would be nearly impossible for every team to fit all 90 players under the cap. Hence, the Rule of 51. Why 51 and not 53? It hasn't been publicly stated.

Darren Andrews has the Patriots’ 51st-highest cap number at $496,666. The 52nd-highest cap number (Danny Etling) is $495,000. Etling’s base salary of $495,000 is not currently counting against the Patriots salary cap. This treatment also applies to all other players who are outside the team’s top 51 – the player’s base salary will not count, but signing bonus prorations, roster bonuses, LTBE incentives, and offseason workout bonuses will.

So what does this have to do with how the rookie cap works?

Because of their rookie salary and the small signing bonuses all late-round picks receive, those picks will not be among the 51 highest cap numbers on the Patriots. Therefore, players with base salaries of $495,000 will not count against the team's overall salary cap. Only the player’s signing bonus proration will.

How will this affect the Patriots in 2019?

To keep it simple, let's pretend they won't trade any of their current draft picks. New England currently has twelve draft picks in the 2019 draft.

With the new CBA’s rookie wage scale, the compensation for draft picks is now basically slotted. So based on the 12 draft picks, the Patriots should have a rookie cap number of around $8,998,854. The below numbers are based on a projected league cap of $190 million so if the actual League Cap ends up to be a different number these numbers will slightly change.

Those cap numbers should break down as follows :

1. 1st round (No. 32): $1,848,376


2. 2nd round (No. 56): $911,985


3. 2nd round (No. 64): $836,940


4. 3rd round (No. 73): $758,946


5. 3rd round (No. 97 - compensatory): $702,430


6. 3rd round (No. 101 - compensatory): $702,430


7. 4th round (No. 134): $653,091


8. 6th round (No. 205 - compensatory): $527,252


9. 7th round (No. 239): $515,264


10. 7th round (No. 243): $514,508


11. 7th round (No. 246): $513,816


12. 7th round (No. 250 - compensatory): $513,816

Question: Why are the cap numbers for the 97th and the 101st picks the same?

Question: Will the amount to sign the 2019 draft class change if the Patriots traded some of their draft picks?

Question: Since we all know the Patriots will make a trade involving a draft pick, what is your current estimate of the actual cap space taken up by signing the 2019 draft class?

Question: How did the Patriots obtain the 56th overall pick?

Question: How did the Patriots obtain the 73rd overall pick?

Question: How did the Patriots obtain 239th overall pick?

Question: How did the Patriots obtain 243rd overall pick?

Question: What happened to the Patriots' original 2019 third-round pick?

Question: What happened to the Patriots' original 2019 fifth-round pick?

Question: What happened to the Patriots' original 2019 sixth-round pick?