Here are the details of Demaryius Thomas' contract with the Patriots. Basically, these details confirm my suspicion on Tuesday that 46-man active roster bonuses, as well as incentives, were a big part of the deal.
Thomas' deal is for one year, and could be worth up to $6 million. He received a $150,000 signing bonus, but none of his $1.2 million 2019 salary is currently guaranteed. Therefore, his deal only contains $150,000 in fully guaranteed money -- he'll earn that just by reporting to training camp. If the Patriots released Thomas before the start of training camp, they will have $150,000 in dead money.
As far as I can tell, Thomas is the only Patriot with a reporting bonus. If the Patriots released Thomas after the start of training camp and before his salary becomes fully guaranteed on Sept. 7 at 4 p.m. via the termination pay benefit, the Patriots will have $300,000 in dead money.
• Since Thomas was active for 15 games in 2018, his 46-man $93,750 active roster bonuses will be considered LTBE (Likely to Be Earned) for 15 games.
• Thomas can earn a $750,000 incentive by catching 60 passes. This incentive will be classified NLTBE, since he caught 59 passes in 2019.
• Thomas can earn $2,250,000 via three $750,000 receiving yards incentives (800 yards, 1,000 yards and 1,200 yards). Since Thomas had 677 receiving yards in 2018, all three will be considered NLTBE in 2018.
Thomas's 2019 salary cap number is $2,906,250.
--$1,200,000: Salary
--$150,000: Signing bonus.
--$150,000: Reporting bonus
--$1,406,250: 46-man active roster bonuses. He will earn $93,750 for each game he's active.
Thomas' $2,906,250 cap number is the 20th highest on the Patriots and second-highest among Patriots receivers.
Out of the Patriots wideouts, only Julian Edelman can earn more cash than Thomas in 2019 -- he can earn up to $6.5 million ($2 million salary, $500,000 offseason workout bonus, $500,000 in 46-man active roster bonuses, and $3.5 million in incentives) in cash this year while Thomas can earn $6 million.
Thomas displaced Adam Butler's $645,000 salary from the Top 51 list, lessening the deal's impact on the Patriots cap space number. The Patriots salary cap space number decreased by $2,261,250 ($2,906,250 minus $645,000) to $13,130,055.
Evaluation: This is a low-risk (potentially $300,000 in dead money), high-reward deal for the Patriots. If Thomas happens to earn the maximum amount of $6 million, he will end up being greatly underpaid for his production. In 2018, nine veteran wide receivers had at least 1,200 receiving yards. Their average cap hit was $10,399,134.
Answering some logical follow-up questions:
Question: How will Thomas earning his incentives affect the Patriots salary cap?
Answer: For each incentive Thomas earns, the Patriots 2020 salary cap will be debited by $750,000.
Question: How will Thomas being active for all sixteen games affect the Patriots salary cap?
Answer: It will increase his cap number by $93,750 to an even $3 million.
Question: If Thomas is placed on PUP, how would that affect the Patriots salary cap?
Answer: It should eliminate any chance of his earning any of the $3 million in incentives. Also, Thomas will not earn at least six 46-man active roster bonuses costing him at least $562,500. The Patriots will receive a $93,750 credit on their 2020 cap for every game Thomas is inactive. The maximum credit amount is $1,406,250. His salary will not be affected if placed on PUP. Contrary to one report, if Thomas is inactive for a game, his 2019 cap number will not decrease.
Question: How does Thomas' signing affect the 2020 compensatory pick calculations?
Answer: Since Thomas was released by the Texans in February, he will not be part of the calculations. Over the Cap's Nick Korte currently projects the Patriots will receive in 2020 two third-round compensatory picks and two sixth-round compensatory picks.
Question: What is the positional breakdown when it comes to players under contract? What is the current cap allocation by position?
Answer:
- C - 2 ($4,230,000)
- G - 6 ($10,909,607)
- OT - 5 ($10,071,684)
- TE - 5 ($3,253,102)
- WR - 8 ($14,669,301)
- QB - 3 ($30,000,000)
- RB - 3 ($9,812,885)
- FB - 2 ($1,600,000)
- Offense - 34 ($81,640,329)
- CB - 5 ($17,597,547)
- S - 4 ($22,678,333)
- DE - 6 ($9,836,489)
- DT - 6 ($8,019,584)
- LB - 6 ($19,408,432)
- Defense - 27 ($78,185,385)
- LS- 1 ($955,000)
- K - 1 ($3,050,000)
- P - 1 ($1,500,000)
- ST - 7 ($10,908,911)
- Special Teams - 10 ($16,413,911)
Question: What is your current Patriots 2019 salary cap space number?