Good questions this week on a number of topics. Let's get started:
From Twitter follower Brian: Who is the surprise cut?
Answer: Nate Ebner. Why Ebner? With Keion Crossen, Obi Melifonwu, Terrence Brooks on the Patriots roster there are several younger and cheaper options for a special-teams player.
Answer: Tom Brady started to take less money in 2013. Since 2013, 10 quarterbacks have taken home more cash than Brady. They are Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Drew Brees, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Alex Smith, and Cam Newton. Brady has received a yearly average of around $14.3 million in cash since 2013. The top of the quarterback market is now $35 million. 2013 was the last season Brady had a Top 5 cap number. 2013 and 2016 are the only recent years that Brady's cash intake was in the Top 5. Therefore, the "Brady always takes less" contention is not a fable but an accurate reflection of reality. In April of 2018, I detailed Brady's contract history.
Answer: Mostly personnel. The Patriots defense was better and far healthier in 2018 than it was in 2017. The Patriots ended the 2017 season with Shea McClellin, Dont'a Hightower, Vincent Valentine, Caleb Kidder, Cyrus Jones, Derek Rivers and Jonathan Jones all on Injured Reserve while also having Harvey Langi and Keionta Davis on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list. The only Patriot defenders who ended the 2018 season on Injured Reserve were Eric Rowe, Christian Sam, and Ja'Whaun Bentley.
Answer: Deadlines spur action. The deadline to extend Brady AND to achieve maximum salary cap savings is 4 p.m. Saturday, September 7. Before that time, Brady's 2019 entire salary could be lowered to $1,015,000 ($59,706 weekly), the minimum for a player with at least 10 credited seasons. After September 7, the minimum Brady's salary could count against the cap is $1,778,823.
Answer: If Gronk decides to un-retire during the regular season, his cap number would be $9 million divided by 17 times the number of weeks remaining in the season plus $46,875 times the remaining number of games. As Bedard illustrated in here, the deadline to unretire is Week 13.
Week 1 - $9,609,375
Week 2 - $9,079,963
Week 3 - $8,550,551
Week 4 - $8,021,140
Week 5 – $7,444,853
Week 6 – $6,868,566
Week 7 – $6,292,279
Week 8 – $5,715,993
Week 9 – $5,139,706
Week 10 – $4,610,294
Week 11 – $4,034,007
Week 12 – $3,457,721
Week 13 – $2,881,434
Answer: Background - In late August of 2012, Aaron Hernandez signed an extension with the Patriots. His signing bonus was $12.5 million. It was scheduled to be paid out over three installments. Hernandez received $6 million in August of 2012 and $3.25 million in March of 2013. Aaron was scheduled to receive the third and final payment of $3.25 million on March 31, 2014, but it was never paid by the Patriots.
Answer: Hernandez has been paid in cash $11,260,000 from the Patriots.
$620,000 in 2010
$670,000 in 2011
$6,740,000 in 2012
$3,000,000 in 2013 (Hernandez received a $3 million installment of his signing bonus in March 2013).
Answer: Aaron Hernandez has taken up $13,292,000 in cap space.
$436,000 in 2010
$700,000 in 2011
$3,290,000 in 2012
$2,550,000 in 2013
$7,500,000 in 2014
$1,184,000 credit in 2015
Answer. The Patriots won the salary grievances Hernandez filed over his 2013 salary, his 2014 salary and his 2014 offseason workout bonus money.
Answer:
- The Colts' Jack Doyle whose Patriots 2019 cap number would be $5,337,500.
- The Cardinals' Charles Clay whose cap number would be $1,556,250
- The Texans' Darren Fells whose cap number would be $1,400,000.
- The Browns' Seth Devalve whose cap number would be $720,000
- The Falcons' Logan Paulsen whose cap number would be $645,000. $110,000 of Paulsen's salary is fully guaranteed.
Answer:
- Damien Harris beating Shilique Calhoun out for a roster spot will create $225,000 in cap space.
- Yodny Cajuste beating David Parry out for a roster spot will create $225,000 in cap space.
- Hjalte Froholdt beating James Ferentz out for a roster spot will create $225,000 in cap space.
Answer: There is no limit. Coaches' salaries do not count against the team's salary cap.
Answer: Since 2013 the Patriots have entered training camp with the following amounts of cap space.
- 2013 - $10 million
- 2014 - $6 million
- 2015 - $8.9 million
- 2016 - $8.9 million
- 2017 - $13.4 million
- 2018 - $8.8 million
- 2019 - $4.9 million
Answer: There is not a maximum length to the length of a deal. There is a maximum length to how long a signing bonus can be prorated - five years. So if a player signs a 10-year deal and receives a $40 million signing bonus the signing bonus proration will be eight million per season. If asked I would advise a player not to sign a deal longer than five years
Answer: No and no. Since Gordon is indefinitely suspended his $2,025,000 salary is not currently counting against the Patriots salary cap. Since Jared Veldheer retired before receiving his signing bonus there is no dead money relating to his retirement.
Answer:
[table id=132 /]
The 92 players include 17 of 22 SB LIII starters, 41 of 53 SB LIII active players, and 6 of 13 players who were on IR/NFI.