According to a league source, the Patriots will receive a $5,640,675 credit on their 2019 cap.
I had been projecting $5,241,532, so my new cap number for the Patriots increased by that difference -- $399,143 -- to $18,304,471.
Where does the $5,640,675 credit come from? Most of it is from incentives, since the total of unearned LTBE (Likely To Be Earned) incentives ($5.675 million) was far greater than their total of earned NLTBE incentives ($1.8 million). Please see my final incentives piece for the 2018 season for more details. To provide some historical context, over the past seven years, the Patriots have averaged close to $1.7 million in negative adjustments, due mostly to NLTBE incentives that were earned in the prior year.
In all, $603,125 of the $5,640,675 credit came from unearned LTBE 46-man active roster bonuses:
- A $281,250 credit for the 15 46-man active roster bonuses that Jeremy Hill did not earn while being on IR.
- A $109,375 credit for Rob Gronkowski not being active for 14 games this year.
- A $93,750 credit for Dwayne Allen not being active for all 16 games this year.
- A $62,500 credit for Rex Burkhead not being active for 10 games this year.
- A $31,250 credit for Adrian Clayborn not being active for all 16 games.
- A $25,000 credit for Patrick Chung not being active for all 16 games.
- Brandon Bolden: $110,000
- Jordan Matthews: $90,000
- John Atkins: $50,000
- Ralph Webb: $50,000
- Frank Herron: $25,000
- Darren Andrews: $15,000
- league cap number
- prior year carryover
- Adjustments, primarily when it comes to LTBE/NLTBE, but can include salary grievances, injury grievances, termination pay refunds, and guaranteed salary offsets.
- $177,200,000 (cap number)
- $3,012,062 (carryover)
- $17,187 (LTBE/NLTBE adjustment)
- $189,000,000 (league cap -- the latest projection ranges between $187.1 million and $191 million. I split the difference and use $189 million)
- $3,173,423 (carryover)
- $5,640,675 (Adjustments, primarily the LTBE/NLTBE adjustment)
- $197,814,098 total
- 2011 into 2012 - $6,987,262. League average - $9,430,131
- 2012 into 2013 - $5,607,914. League average - $6,283,520
- 2013 into 2014 - $4,106,801. League average - $5,552,791
- 2014 into 2015 - $5,258,054. League average - $5,633,168
- 2015 into 2016 - $1,347,882. League average - $6,373,847
- 2016 into 2017 - $5,292,335. League average - $9,208,159
- 2017 into 2018 - $3,012,602. League average - $10,624,840
- 2018 into 2019 - $3,173,423. League average - $10,612,153.