Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Foxboro Finance: Draft Edition — New England Patriots 2022 Draft Class Contract Talk — 5/14/22

Episode Date: May 15, 2022

With the image of the 2022 NFL Draft starting to shrink in the rearview mirror of football fans across the nation, the New England Patriots are getting down to business. The Pats have officially added three members of their rookie class to the Foxboro fold. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Miguel ‘PatsCap’ Benzan to discuss the signings of Marcus Jones, Kevin Harris and Sam Roberts. The duo also discuss the potential deals for Cole Strange and Tyquan Thornton, and …of course…Miguel sets the records straight on some ‘cap myths.’Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriots And follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.On Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patriots fans, the 2020 NFL draft is now in the books. Three of the Patriots draft picks have been signed. What is still to come for the New England Patriots? And how can we possibly set the record straight? Our good friend, the Pats cap is here today to do just that and talk all things Foxborough finance. I'm Mike debate and you're about to be locked into the lockdown Patriots podcast.

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful, and thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots not just a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage, but also your first listen every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. So smash that subscribe button, download, subscribe to, and follow the Locked On Patriots podcast wherever you get your podcasts. It is the weekend here, folks, but Locked On Patriots takes no days off. And boy, do we have a special treat for you this weekend.

Normally, it's Foxborough Finance Friday here on Lockdown Patriots. But because of a scheduling snafu, which unfortunately I am famous for lately, folks, we're bringing this show to you on the weekend. And my guest today is the definition of a true professional, the greatest guy you'll ever meet in any walk of life, but truly a legend when it comes to the New England Patriots finances. Down to the penny, this man always has it accurate, spot on, and has the wisdom and counsel that only he can provide. And I thank him for being such a professional, for being able to adjust his schedule to be with me here today. He needs no introduction.

I give him one anyway because he is that damn good. He is the great and powerful wizard of Ben Zahn himself, my good friend. The Pat's Cat, Miguel Benzahn, joins me today. Miguel, thank you so much for joining me here this weekend. Welcome back to Lockdown Patriots. Always a pleasure. I have to agree with Murph. I love the music in the intro. I absolutely love it.

Our production department does an amazing job. The introductions, the graphics, they truly the overlay that you can see here on Lockdown Patriots YouTube. Folks, if you are listening and you haven't checked this out on YouTube definitely do yourself a favor check it out for any other reason to see Miguel's great smile and you can hear his laugh and visualize it in person uh truly one of the most infectious things in Patriots Nation in a good way and we love having him here and but can I just give a shout out to shout out you can see in the background two of the works by my friend Matthew shopren shop on on twitter he's those two prints the one from the the gronk one and the front office one that's from him you can follow him on twitter he's always having giveaways and contests great stuff absolutely great stuff the true artwork is really really uh just amazing and for any Patriots fan, for any football fan, for any fan of fine art,

and really, really great piece, intricate detail, definitely check that out. So by all means, I'm so glad that you did that, and I'm glad that you gave us a little insight as to your background here. We need to upgrade the Locked On Studios a little bit, maybe even get a chance to get the camera on that Toto poster. Yes, what is it? That is here in the honor of my good friend, Mark Schofield. Behind your head?

Yeah, you know what? You know what? We like to have a little mystery here on Locked On, Patriots. We like to keep everybody guessing, but I promise you that will be revealed all in due time. I'll reveal it when Mark joins me once again here on the show. Oh, that'd be awesome. I'll be back soon, folks.

So definitely check that out. Yeah, I want to see the look on Mark's face. I think Mark wants to see the look on his face, too, when he finds out that that poster is still here and i never took it down uh no kidding aside folks um we are here to talk foxborough finance and there is nobody finer in patriots media anywhere uh to do that than my guest here today my good friend miguel and miguel according to your calculations and once again folks i say this every single time miguel is here i really truly feel like when i'm in the room and i share the microphone with this man that i'm sharing the microphone and the wisdom and knowledge of the financial mozart of the patriots uh realm media really nfl i mean this man is remarkable

and it's always down to the penny always accurate he's the only source i have when it comes to foxborough finance quite frankly folks the only one i have when it comes to foxborough finance quite frankly folks the only one i need and i assure you that most of you probably feel the same way if you're watching this today miguel right now the patriots are operating with approximately i should say approximately you give an exact figure in your twitter bio 56 $568,626 in available cap space. Not exactly setting the world ablaze when it comes to cap space. Are your New England Patriots. It's lean financial times at one Patriots place, but you and I both know that's not the way it's going to last. The Patriots are going to clear room eventually to operate through the year. We'll talk about that in

just a minute, but three of the dominoes have fallen when it comes to the 2022 nfl draft class yesterday even the day before news started to trickle out the wire confirmed it yesterday marcus jones third round pick signed with the new england patriots signing his rookie deal you also have two others kevin harris signing the deal and also sam roberts before we get into what the Patriots need to still do, let's talk about what they've done. Walk us through these deals that the Patriots have made and what it means for the Patriots' finances. I'm going to go in the order they were drafted.

Okay? Okay. Marcus Jones was the 85th overall pick. He was drafted in the third round. All right? In the third round going forward, all right, all those guys basically have straight deals you have your salary and the signing bonus the signing bonus is your only guaranteed money

but in the history of the patriots during the bellogec era every healthy third round pick has made the 53 man roster week one. All right. So we, I don't want to ease. Let's model a lot on Patriots. So let's just use the word lock. Okay. Marcus Jones,

based on where he was drafted is a lot to be on the roster week one, unless he's suffering an injured gut. I hate to say during a, I hate to jinx people. Let's just say he remains healthy all right so he's signed he got a 945 000 signing bonus that's gonna be parodied over four years so operation is gonna be 236 dollars and 264 dollars okay right so that's gonna hit the cap now. All right. But because he is not his cap number of $941,264 is not among the top 51 hires. His salary of $705,000 doesn't count against the cap now. So he dropped the

salary cap number by a standing post per ration. All right. right in 2023 he's going to have a salary of 940 000 i'm just going to round it up in 2024 1.175 million dollars in 2025 1.41 million dollars all right and the reason that is those the odd numbers is they what they do is rookie deals their salaries can only increase by 25 of their 20 of their original cap number year one cap number right joel corey blew my mind also blew troy chapman who's texas cap our minds when he pointed out that their total deal is 5.5 of the year one number. That just blows my mind. He just timed that up. So he signs a deal.

It just blew my mind, all right? He's guaranteed to be on the roster week one. That's the only guarantee. That's relative. That's figuratively guarantee. That's relative. That's figuratively. All right? That literally is on it. All right?

Next year, he could get cut early if he's not playing, but that usually doesn't happen. All right? So then we talk about Kevin Harris is signed. He's on the 183rd pick these guys when you're drafted in the sixth or seventh round you got a really slow small signing bulls compared to the guy in the third round he's only got a 200 000 signing bonus that's the you know pro to over fifty thousand dollars once again only assigning bonus rate proportion hits the cap this year all right i mean now and if he makes the team week one then the 75 000 salary will hit

the cap all right less than half of the six round picks and during the bell bells you have maybe it's not looking good for him all right once you get past six and seven it's less than half 50 less than 50 50. all right right and then we got up, Sam Roberts, who's just one pick away from the Brady pick. 200th overall. All right? All right. I really feel bad for anybody who drafted 199 because they got that legacy they can never live up to. Right?

True. It's an invaluable. She was the fill. Yeah. This big. He's got his salary, his signing bonus peration is about $43,000. Once again,

that's the only one that's hitting the cap now. Once again, it makes week one, his salary hits the cap. All right. These guys, once you get third, players draft the third,

fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh rounds, they don't have any guaranteed salary. The only guaranteed amount is their signing bonus. And now because these guys have their salaries jump up big time. So, for example, in 2023, Roberts and Harris salaries go to $870,000.

Then in 2024, $985,000. 2025, $1.1 million. All right. So next in 2021, a rookie is going to make $1.1 million. All right. That's crazy, Mike. That's crazy. All right. So in salary, he's going to make $ 3.66 million dollars a year all right i mean over the four years excuse me all right so when you see someone tweet out the total deal right and it's 3.8 million dollars remember it's most of it is salary which isn't guaranteed okay all right okay so that takes good i just want want to go over the those deals um because if they were to get cut on roster weekend three years signing boner operation will hit the 2023 cap all right so they're very little there's very little dead money and percentage wise

for these guys all right i haven't i'll say this't, and I'll say this, but my number, I should say about this, but my salary cap number, I'm still missing the details of four undrafted players. By this time, if they haven't gotten any details, it could be any amount of money, any guaranteed amount of money. Sometimes they just haven't input of the deal. The NFL PA is way behind. That's why yesterday's track transaction while,

which you were talking about was huge. They just finally started doing the draft pick some of the undrafted in the draft picks this yesterday. That wire that Aaron Wilson, we had talked about before the show started, that wire was just ridiculously longson we had talked about before the show started that wire was just ridiculously long yeah it was absolutely i remember seeing the wire coming through and just remarking you know about the amount of volume of rookie deals that were signed and you're starting to see the dominoes fall into place and miguel i can't thank you enough for giving us some uh

background on the deals that have been signed so far especially especially knowing about the third round, the sixth round, and how that works with guaranteed money and it works with signing bonuses. It is something that does count into the Patriots' salary for the year. And now that we know what is going to hit the books, how it is going to hit the books, and what it means for those three players, meaning Kevin Harris, Sam Roberts, and then, of course, Marcus Jones being the third round pick, probably the most prominent, to hit the books and what it means for those three players meaning kevin harris um sam roberts and then of course marcus jones being the third round pick probably the most prominent of the uh the three it's going to be interesting to find out what this means for the patriots moving forward

what can we look forward to when it comes to the patriots still to come they still have a few high-profile rookies that need to sign their deals, including first rounder Cole Strange, second rounder Tyquan Thornton. And also what do the Patriots have to do to make sure they have enough cap space to operate during the calendar year? And don't worry, folks, we will have a segment today that is unique to Locked On Patriots as we always do when my good buddy drops by. Miguel is going to set the record straight once again. So stick around.

We will talk about that in just one moment when this special edition weekend episode of Locked on Patriots continues. But first off, I know a lot of you are into a lot going on in the world of professional sports right now, especially here in the New England area. Basketball playoffs, hockey playoffs, interesting stuff going on. If you ever want to make that knowledge work for you a little bit financially, you can definitely visit our good friends at BetOnline because BetOnline.net is your number one source

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we are talking with the great and powerful wizard of Benzahn, my good friend, the Pats cap, Miguel Benzahn, joins us here today on the special weekend episode of Locked on Patriots. Miguel, we talked about the fallen dominoes so far. We talked about Marcus Jones signing his rookie deal, Kevin Harris, as well as Sam Roberts. They're in the Foxborough fold now, but there's still some work to be done in Foxborough to operate throughout the year and also to get the rookie class in tow. Miguel, we've talked about several times how the Patriots

might clear some cap-based speculations, things of that nature, but when you look at the work that still needs to be done, including what these rookie deals may look like, particularly of interest, I know to our listeners, Cole Strange, Tyquan Thornton, the two big dominoes still to fall here. What do the Patriots have to do financially to move forward as they look to the start of the 2022 season? Okay, so, Mike, they have, even with that very little cap space they have right now, because only the signing bonus per ration will hit the cap, right, they still have enough room to sign four draft picks.

I mean, with the bottom two, which I thought would have been Andrew Stuber and – oh, my gosh. Now I'm drawing a blank. That's so embarrassing. Okay. Jason Hines. Is Jason Hines the guy you're looking at? Yeah, Jason Hines That's okay

Let the record show, folks I actually helped Miguel with something That very, very seldom happens Usually it's the other way around By all means, continue, my friend Okay, so they have enough Cast base to sign Andrew Jason Bailey And P.S. Strong you my friend okay so they have enough cash space to sign andrew chasen bailey and pierce strong

right all right they don't have a cap enough cash space if they sign those four that gives they have enough cases on those four but they don't wouldn't have enough cap space but then sign jack john jack jones thornton or cole strange so the pages weots, we know, we've been saying this every time I've been here on your show this year, I know the Patriots need to create cap space. How they're going to create cap space and when they'll create cap space is up to them. They have gone from signing all their draft picks

on finishing from May 15th to July 22nd. They have no rem reamer no patent to when they finish signing all right there's no scene that being a hybrid to create cap space this year okay which is amazing they're not in the highway they Mike I I've got on one hand we get let me put my hand in front of the camera okay you can count the number of moves that they've made they created a cap space this year five five the stidham trade the mason trade the benoit release the g6y's restructure and the devin mccordy extension just five just five moves folks they created cap space heck the the saints probably did 10 in one day in early march it's

there no rush and i said this before i hate to repeat myself if you are on a rookie deal and you i i get what they're doing because they i think they want to spend they're not going to spend as much money they did this year as they did in 2021. I think they plan to spend more in 2023. So why borrow cap space in 2023 if you don't need to? Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. I have said, and I've tweeted out many times, and the Patriots could easily create $55 million in cap space. And that's not all the things. I'm just picking the most likely. If I was to go all the things i just picking the most likely if i was you know if i was to go all the things i could probably get to 60. all right when they're gonna do it mike i have no idea all

right um i don't i do know it's gonna happen in order to sign the three draft picks let's you know say so but when exactly i have no idea i'll say this i think why i thought they would go from top to bottom to top all right they signed marcus jones a third round pick out of order in my opinion all right and i and the reason i say this folks is in the previous years the third round picks has been the round that has been a lot of negotiation around because they were the players trying to get the maximum compensation and what that means they wanted to get all that 25 percent increase in their salaries all right now that it's gone that the agents have won that battle so according to joel corey from who writes the cbs sports line but now battle goes down to the fourth round good

point okay and only one fourth round pick as according to my records has been signed this year so far this year so i i think what joe corey predicted and said on his podcast it's coming true patriots have three of them so maybe they're waiting to see What happens with the rest of the fourth round And they also have a quarterback Bailey who's drafted in the fourth round And usually quarterbacks sometimes Get treated differently In

Compared to the rest of the draft picks Especially in the third round So they were like If you were drafted quarterback and you were 84 You might have maxed out your compensation while the guy 23rd who was a running back did not. Okay. So Bailey's agent, Nicole Lynn, is waiting to see what happens with draft picks around his slot.

Yeah, absolutely. yeah absolutely and that's such a good point that you mentioned about the fourth round because we've been hearing rumblings all throughout the offseason that the nl the nflpa was looking to maximize the amounts that the fourth rounders could make and you're right the third rounders they've come up to that level and there is a level that they've reached now that allows them to be able to maximize their deals it's only natural that the progression would now go to the fourth round so yeah there's some interesting uh you know moves to be made there uh for the new england patriots and how is that going to all shake out like you said it's really i think a matter of conjecture it's not a matter of if it's not a matter of if you know it's going to happen right it's just a matter of when and when they're going to be able to do that of course rookie

minicamp wrapping up this week you have to wonder if some of those negotiations are going on. If maybe over the weekend or Monday, we might see a flurry of activity. Tuesday tends to be a big transaction day. Maybe we'll see something within the course of the next few days. So folks, as we like to say here on Locked On Patriots, keep a sharp eye and definitely keep your eyes glued to Miguel's Twitter feed, because if there's financials involved, folks, he is right on it and he will be spot on and accurate as always. And that leads me quite nicely into the reason we love having you here. But I'm only kidding. We love having you here for all those reasons.

In a segment unique to Locked On Patriots, Miguel is about to set the record straight. And he has a couple of different ways in which he's going to do that and dispel some of those cat myths flying around out there. Bringing it all home on this weekend for you with my good friend, Miguel. The Pat's Cat bends on when this weekend episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But, Miguel, we all know from the temperatures outside, summer is on its way.

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Visit Bilt.com. Enter the promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off your next order. That's LOCKED15 at Bilt.com. Patriots fans, the legendary, the great and powerful wizard of Benz on himself. Miguel, the Pats cap Benz on has graced us with his presence this weekend. Miguel, I can't thank you enough for moving around your schedule to join us here on the special edition of Locked On Patriots. And we've talked a lot about Foxborough Finance. We've talked about the dominoes that have fallen, the dominoes still to fall.

And when or when will the patriots make those moves to clear up cap space but this is my favorite part of the show it is the part of the show where miguel dispels all of those cat myths flying around out there a lot of the erroneous information you're hearing well miguel is the source of all knowledge and he will set the record straight i understand my friend that you have a couple of different stories a couple of different anecdotes and tidbits to share with us that will enlighten and educate our patriots population without further ado my friend floor is yours set the record straight as only you can so let's go back to time remember a couple of weeks ago rob gronkowski talks about the patriots and incentives all right it gets blown up blown up chris long a former teammate of rob gronkowski

on his podcast the same podcast he interviewed sean sean payton so you can listen to not take my word for. Go find that podcast and listen to it. Same one with Sean Payton is on. All right. He talks about how the Patriots helped him get, earn a playing time incentives. And he was shocked, surprised. Now I'm summarizing what he said. All right. But he was surprised. He said something unflattering about Rob Concalzi. I'm not going to repeat what he said. right but he was surprised he said something unflattering about rob kankowski i'm not gonna repeat what he said all right okay but he said that the patriots helped him and just disputed what rob kankowski said that's the first thing but of course someone in a play a former player in defense of the patriots does it get get mentioned in the media, in the Boston sports media? No. It's on a podcast, but I haven't seen any mention of it. But I saved this.

I knew what was coming on, and I wanted to save it for that. Hey, Papa, I'm guilty of that too. I'll fall on the sword. Okay, fair enough, fair enough. The second thing i want to mention is the kendrick bourne video all right he i don't know folks folks he's a very funny man so if you haven't had a chance to see his video on the day of the draft the night of the draft

excuse me all right so he's shocked and surprised and disappointed that the Patriots moved back. All right. And you can hear in the background someone saying, I don't know who, that Bill didn't want to pay the money. Well, folks, that was so wrong. Okay. So let's just okay the 21st overall pick would will receive in compensation this year just over eight million dollars all right the page traded for the 29th the 94th 121st pick

all right all those three guys total up to 9.8 million dollars what they're going to get in compensation between the signing bonus and their salary all right that's 1.8 million dollars when you trade back in a draft and you get more picks especially high picks that you know are going to make the roster all right you're actually going to spend more money so i wouldn't think i said that i'm like no you don't know that's not true that's not even close to being true okay yeah even though you gotta pay the first the the 29th pick a smaller signing bonus but you're paying more salaries all right okay so i that's okay okay so that that was as I'm watching the video and laughing, of course the cap nerd light comes on and I said, okay. So the third, the third thing is I got to

correct myself, sit the second shade on myself. Um, um, folks, if you've been following me on Twitter, you could probably figure out my, you, you could probably figure out my you you can probably figure out what one night with my work hours were all right they were 645 to 315 I take a break at 9 go to lunch at 12 and I took a break at 1 alright I no longer have that job I started so I started a new job recently all right I was a little bit different. So when I heard about, and so now when the Jared Stenum trade came out, I'm actually doing this from the job and I used to work from home. And I'm remembering, I'm like off the top of my head, I write and I tweet out trading Jared Stenum created $70,000 in cap space. Because I pretty much remembered that Devine Oxable, the running back, he had a salary of $965,000, but he was cut. So all the rest of the players not in the top 51 I thought had, most of the guys had a salary, the highest salary was $895,000.

I forgot about Ramondre Stevenson. He had a salary of 825 000. so trading jared's to them and which said my record street actually created 140 000 in cash space all right i know someone in the covenant of the patriots said a million dollars but that's not true because somebody took romanda steveamps and replaced sit-in on the top 51 list all right so his you take sit-ins 965 000 off the list and you add ramon deschamps 825 000 onto the list that's 140 40 000 difference right and so now i see people saying the chance to create a million dollars in cash space. That's, folks, that's wrong, right? And so I was wrong doing this off the top of my head.

I owe you guys better do better. And I should announce, like, basically, you're going to see less and less tweets from me during my workday. Because I'm going to just more lunch. and then when i get back home because i actually used to work from home now i gotta commute so i won't be tweeting in while i'm driving i definitely don't do that folks don't look at your phone definitely driving um so those are sets of x shade i think it's the first time i set myself straight so right but i do you guys that um i think that's um i did i got that wrong i shouldn't do it off the top of my head i should just look at my spreadsheet going forward it's um but it's that's all i got and i should go back one thing i

wanted to say not to set the strict straight but going back to the draft pick talk the nflpa was put also pushing for the first round picks to get fully guaranteed deals all right at the each for the last several years is the number of first round picks who got fully guaranteed kept going up incrementally right last year was the top 28. i thought for sure that cole strange because he's 29 would definitely get a fully guaranteed deal i know for a fact now he will because the guy who drafted 30th did there's no way that cole strange agent is gonna agree to to not have a fully guaranteed deal now all right and the guy after him, drafts a slot, got one. Good point.

Folks, maybe we should talk about I have some time. We have to talk about what actually gets negotiated in deals. By all means. You have the time, we do. It's not the number.

For the first round picks's not the number. For the first round picks, for the signing bonus, they get a large signing bonus, right? So it's when they get the signing bonus. Because, folks, sometimes the owners will pay out the signing bonus in one lump sum or several payments, all right? So you obviously – I wouldn't want the money sooner than later because a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow, especially in inflation. All right? Right. Okay.

So they go negotiating about the fully contract deals. They're negotiating about what if you do to forfeit your guaranteed money. All right? So that's first round picks. All right? The agents have given up on the battle on offset so i'm not going to even talk about them for the second round picks it's going to be how much of their third year salary is fully guaranteed all right for the third round picks now is how much of the they've won the battle on picks, now it's how much of the – they've won the battle on maximum compensation. Now it's going to be how much if they can get –

oh, they actually lost the battle. They still haven't won the – they're trying to get more money guaranteed, but they've lost – seem to have lost that battle. But they have won the battle on maximum compensation. The battle – the fourth round picks has got the maximum compensation we talked about that and the fifth and sixth and round picks all you're negotiating is like a if i get hurt and i get placed on ir so i have a split salary is when does that take an effect some teams like if you get hurt in the pre-season in the second year then you go and you

get the lower salary but if you get hit during the regular season you don't go on a split salary all right so folks so folks who like to believe in um the foxborough flu you go on the ir you're not making the seven hundred five thousand dollars you're making just over four hundred thousand dollars that's a three hundred thousand dollars drop and then your next year's salary you don't get the second you get paid like you're a rookie last next year you know you're not gonna get that eight hundred seventy thousand dollars so that when you if you if a player agrees to that he's healthy and agrees to be on IR he's got some self $400,000 at least and money at least so that Foxborough flu thing is very expensive folks is it again more and more these guys make more more money right because

that split Sally that difference between what you make when you're healthy, when you make on IR is huge. All right. I think I went over everything. So I think that's all I got, Mike, unless you got any questions. That was no, that was excellent. I mean, that and, you know, talk about a great way to end the show and going over exactly what the structure of these deals may look like, especially when it comes to Coltrane, because I know a lot of people are wondering how is that shoe going to drop? Did the move from 21 to 29 really affect the Patriots? How did it affect them? You've outlined that quite nicely, my friend. And, you know, it's something that I think, you know,

is always a question on Patriots fans' minds. And they look at that cap number and they look at potential still holes that are on this roster and how they're going to fill them. And are we still going to bring people in? You always bring the wisdom and counsel. And I'm so glad that you set the record straight here on Locked On Patriots because there are a lot of erroneous things that are being thrown out there. And it's nice to see.

I'm glad you mentioned the podcast, Chris Long. And I'm glad. And again, Mea Culpa. I mean, a lot of times these things are blown up when they come from different sources but when it's complementary toward what the patriots have done financially we don't hear from that as much exactly and that is something that's a little disheartening and again i find myself guilty of that just like everybody else in this business you tend to sensationalize what you know is going to get eyes but maybe not necessarily prioritizing

what should be prioritized and i think like deciding to illustrate on that like someone tweeted out the charge when you tweet out jared stedham got a million dollars all right in cap space that's because you looked at the ta a table on a website but you didn't know how the you looked at the table didn't understand it whether or or whatever i should say that it's easy to say it's because of million dollars but that doesn't mean that actually is right right you have to you have to know how to build the tape it's better to know how to build the table than just look at the table and then use the numbers from it right absolutely and then it's and yeah it's that chris long thing you should i folks i just i highly recommend

you to read it i got a dm about it um about my tweets about rob gankowski i'm like it's not true i literally i could chris long said it isn't true and robin kusty was there he was there he was there with alan branch same thing same year alan branch all right he was there when sebastian volmer maybe patient Sebastian did his deal during the season to lower his his playing pine tape percentages he was there absolutely and for everything that's publicized no it's and i'm glad that you mentioned that because for all of these things that are publicized about the patriots don't want to pay, they don't want to do this, they're penny pinching or whatever, or the narrative that seems to fit in with that grumpy bill that's not publicized with these guys that do have roster bonuses, things that the Patriots either pay out or help them to get to that level.

Something that I think requires a little more attention on behalf of those in our profession. And I thank you for setting that record straight. Let the record show, folks. I am shocked that Miguel had to set himself straight on one occasion. You know what, bud? The way I look at it is once in 20 years, you've had something. I make mistakes all the time. I think you make mistakes all the time.

I don't know about that. No, a little bit. A little bit. I think you insulted yourself a little bit there, my friend. You, you're very good. You're very, very good, you. But I've been watching way too many mob movies. That's no question about it.

Folks, you wanted the most captivating laugh in Patriot Sports media. I have given that to you to close your weekend here today on Lockdown Patriots. But what can I say? You're always there for the handoff whenever I need you, but the wisdom and counsel

that you provide and the spot-on analysis when it comes to Foxborough Finance, you are second to none. I've said this several times and very appropriate with the new movie coming out. The plaque for the alternates, folks, it does not exist because this man has no equal. He is the salary cap top gun. He is the best of the best

that's how the man does business ice cold no mistakes uh as far as i'm concerned i know he'll disagree but i i the the minor ones that are there i i don't count those but uh all kidding aside my friend thank you so much for joining us here today before i let you go anything else any parting words uh any uh parting information for our listening public public follow me on twitter at if you get a if you enjoy my work and you can

afford to do so see my pinned tweet how to donate to the habitat of north central Connecticut I keep on saying it's not that anymore wish everybody luck have a great weekend go Patriots go Bruins Central Connecticut. I keep on saying half and half of that. It's not that anymore. Wish everybody luck. Have a great weekend. Go Patriots. Go Bruins.

And let's obviously go Patriots. Absolutely. Definitely have to love that. Big weekend for Boston sports. At the time that you're listening to this, the fate of the two Game 7s that we've got coming up will be well known, but Miguel is always there for us with the handoff and uh

definitely the go patriots rings true for our great listeners here and again if you can please check out miguel's twitter feed learn all you can about hartford and great ways to donate the work that this man does in the community is truly something that i admire above everything uh that he does. Truly a great family man, a tremendous friend, and just a friend to humanity. And to me, that's the true honor and the true privilege of knowing you, my friend. And believe me when I tell you, there are a few, if any, that reach the levels that this man does professionally and personally.

Folks, we thank you, each and every one of you, for taking time out of your schedule to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Also, your first listen every day. Again, subscribe to, download, follow the Locked On Patriots podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and also smash that subscribe button on YouTube. No matter what,

stay locked into Locked On Patriots. On behalf of the great Miguel Benzon, I'm Mike DeBate. Have the great Miguel Benzon. I'm Mike debate. Have a great weekend. Everyone stay safe, stay well, and thank you for staying locked in the locked on Patriots.