Here's a quick recap of the Patriots' transactions from Monday and their impact on their 2019 salary cap:
1. They waived wideout Darren Andrews. Andrews spent the entire 2018 season on the Non-Football Injury list. The Patriots lost $1,668 in cap space, since his 2020 signing bonus proration is now on the Patriots cap. There will be $3,334 in dead money after Andrews' release, and the net effect of the Andrews release decreases the Patriots 2019 salary cap space number to $24,304,503, with 56 signed players (see below). There are now four wideouts (Julian Edelman, Cody Hollister, Braxton Berrios, and Damoun Patterson) under contract for 2019 on the New England roster.
2. They officially released Dwayne Allen. The release created $6,811,250 in cap space for the Patriots, as Allen's $7,306,250 cap number was replaced on the Top 51 list with Frank Herron's $495,000 salary. We took a look at the complete financial implications in this post from the weekend.
Answering some logical follow-up questions:
Question: I have seen some reports that Allen's release created $7.3 million in cap space.
Answer: Those reports are not accounting for the Top 51 rule -- when a player in the Top 51 list is released another player takes his place. In Allen's case, it was Herron, a player with a $495,000 salary.
Question: I have seen some reports Allen's release created $6.4 million in cap space.
Answer: Those reports are not accounting for his $500,000 that was due on March 18 and the $406,250 in 46-man active roster bonuses Allen was scheduled to earn.
Question: What is the positional breakdown when it comes to players under contract?
Answer: Please note that all of the below are currently signed for the 2019 season. That is, players scheduled to become free agents on March 13 are not included in the below numbers. For example, the kicker position shows zero because Stephen Gostkowski is not yet signed for the 2019 season.
- C - 4
- CB - 4
- DE - 5
- DT - 5
- FB - 1
- G - 3
- K - 0
- LB - 6
- LS- 1
- OT - 5
- P - 0
- QB - 3
- RB - 3
- S - 5
- ST - 3
- TE - 4
- WR - 4