The Patriots reportedly signed wide receiver Josh Gordon to his RFA tender on Tuesday, per Field Yates of ESPN. Here's what it means for Gordon and the franchise:
Gordon's 2019 salary is $2,025,000. Since none of his salary is guaranteed, he can be waived or traded anytime before the start of the regular season and there would not be any dead money on the Patriots 2019 cap. Waiving Gordon during roster cutdowns will create $1.53 million in cap space, as it's very likely a player with a $495,000 salary will take his spot.
His $2,025,000 RFA tender has been counting against the Patriots salary cap since it was made on March 13th. ERFA/RFA tenders like franchise/transitions count against a team's cap once made. (April 19 was the deadline for another team to sign Gordon to an offer sheet.)
Having Gordon sign his tender now prevents the Patriots from lowering his RFA tender value on June 15th from $2.025 million to 110 percent of his 2018 salary ($604,118) or $664,530. Per the CBA, teams can unilaterally lower unsigned RFA tenders to 110 percent of the player's prior year salary. However, the Patriots and Gordon can reach an agreement to lower his 2019 cap number -- New England has done so with other RFAs in the past.
If Gordon is suspended by the NFL, the Patriots will then receive a credit on their cap for the number of weeks he will miss. Each missed week will be a $119,117.65 credit on the Patriots cap.
Possible suspension lengths and the corresponding credit
•Four weeks - $476,471
•Six weeks - $714,706
•Eight weeks - $952,941
•Ten weeks - $1,191,176
•Twelve weeks - $1,429,412
•Full season - $2,025,000
There are now eight wide receivers (Thomas, Edelman, Josh Gordon, Maurice Harris, Bruce Ellington, Braxton Berrios, Phillip Dorsett, and Damoun Patterson under contract for 2019 on the Patriots roster.
Question: What is your current Patriots 2019 salary cap space number?
Answer:[table id=132 /]
The 71 players include 17 of 22 SB LIII starters, 41 of 53 SB LIII active players, and 7 of 13 players that were on IR/NFI.