Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: Drake Maye Signs Rookie Contract, Remaining Rookie Deals, Salary Cap Update

Episode Date: May 29, 2024

Just over one month removed from being selected No. 3 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, quarterback Drake Maye has signed his rookie contract with the New England Patriots. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Miguel ‘PatsCap’ Benzan to break down Maye’s deal, as well as the rookie deals of Javon Baker, Joe Milton, Marcellas Dial and Jahiem Bell. Also, in a segment unique to Locked On Patriots, Miguel “sets the record straight” surrounding all of the erroneous “cap myths” running rampant within Patriots Nation. #nfl #patriots  Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFm... Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-... And follow host Mike D’Abate on X, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans — @mdabateNFL  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (Wall Y, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Drake May is officially a New England Patriot, but what impact will his rookie contract have on the team's finances this year? Stick around, you're about to be locked in to the Locked On 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 a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and also your first listen each and every day.

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slash LockedOn to get started. And Pats fans, your New England Patriots have now signed five of their eight draft picks. New England announcing the signing of signed five of their eight draft picks. New England announcing the signing of Drake May on Tuesday. Of course, that comes on the heels of the signing of receiver Javon Baker. Last week, Marcella Stile, Joe Milton, and Jaheim Bell.

New England is still awaiting the signing of second-rounder Jalen Polk, offensive lineman Caden Wallace, and, of course, their day three selection, their first day three selection, number 103 overall in offensive guard, Layden Robinson. But all eyes are on May, but what we need to do is take a journey back in time into our Wolfian time machine and chronicle exactly how the Patriots draft class got to the point it's at today and the only member of patriots nation capable of giving us such an update is none other than the salary cap top gun that's right folks the pharaoh of foxborough finance and every time he comes and drops by the pot i have to give him a new name i'm contractually obligated to do so he is the commander-in-chief of calculations.

Most importantly, he is my good friend. I love it. All right. Miguel Benzon, the Pats cap himself. Bud, what can I say? It's always my honor and privilege to share the microphone with you. Thank you so much for coming by Lockdown Patriots today. Oh, it's my pleasure. I just can't believe, Mike, our luck.

Folks, we had scheduled this like last week all right and then i would have bet a dozen donuts that we would not have any news today on the pages because and of course they signed drake may because i literally folks i work on um gave myself when we when i do a session with mike i sent him a workbook so on the move over to work over the weekend i'm doing this i gave myself some homework and of course they update they signed up so i had to update a couple of the tabs on it it cracked me up because i'm literally had if you follow me on twitter at pat scott you you probably heard me say that. I did not – and I think I might have said this to Mike in April.

I did not expect him to sign Drake May until July because that's been the rule of thumb lately that a top 10 quarterback doesn't usually sign the contract until July. So, and it's good – it doesn't make any sense anymore to wait on this just make it happen because literally for the first round contracts they're pretty much set and especially if you're a quarterback drafted early we knew that the parameters of the deal were set um and as joel cory had pointed out it's likely that drake is going to get all of his signing bonus in one lump sum all right the later crap um first round draft picks will might negotiate about when they

get the entire saddle signing bonus somebody would get it right after the sign and a couple months later and then next on the next year all right but it's likely that drake will get the entire sum in one um entire sign of one payment it really doesn't matter to the cap because it gets the matter when he gets it he gets it'll get divided by four um so it takes the patriots on underneath the 50 million dollar limit cap space number. So hopefully maybe, but unfortunately, we still get, let's put it politely, beat writers mixing up cap space and cash. And we'll talk about that and setting the record straight. Absolutely, folks. You know it's a segment unique to this pod where Miguel will set the record straight. And your new salary cap number, $46,398,877.

I say it all the time, folks, and I mean it every time I say it. Miguel's number is the only one I need. It's the one I go by, and I believe the most accurate salary cap number you will find anywhere in Patriots media, anywhere in NFL media. That's why we have him on. That's why he is the commander in chief of calculations, folks. But Miguel, I think you hit on a very interesting point in that this contract extension came a lot earlier than expected, usually expecting these first rounders to come in the month of July.

This coming in May, really, even before mandatory minicamp, just after rookie minicamp during OTAs. So in a moment, I'm going to ask you to walk us through Drake's contract extension and what it means for the Patriots and your thoughts on the timing. But if we could, I'd like to hop in our Wolfian time machine, as I said earlier, and go back to the Patriots announcing the initial rookie deals and I know you said that there's a progression here so we want to start with the announcement of the rookie signings of Marcellus Dial of Jaheim Bell and of Joe Milton then we can kind of walk through how we got to Javon Baker and then ultimately how the Patriots arrived at Drake May. Okay, folks, like the Patriots are pretty standard in how they sign their draft picks.

Some teams like to sign the draft picks all in one bunch. The Patriots go from the seventh round all the way, usually all the way up to the first round, all right? So this is why I said to Mike in April, I thought they would get to Drake and Polk in July. All right. And even though draft picks are slotted these days, all right, there is some negotiation going on. All right. But not in the first round.

Not in the seventh round. Not in the sixth round. Not in the fifth round. And not in the fourth round. And no longer not in the third round. But most of the negotiations now are in the sixth round, not in the fifth round, and not in the fourth round. And no longer not in the third round. But most of the negotiations now are in the second round. So I should have guessed maybe that Polk would take longer than May, but May was getting so much money.

May is going to get a tremendous amount of money. He's got like a $23 million signing bonus. He's going to take home the second amount of cash this year of any Patriots before incentives, all right, which I'll save, talk about that a little bit later, about the cash spending in the second and the record straight, okay? So with Milton, we could just bring him up, right? All the seventh round, excuse me, bell, all the seventh round picks,

all they do is negotiate about if they're going to get, for the Patriots, it's straightforward. You get your signing bonus. If you get hurt the first year, you're going to get a split salary. If you get hurt the second year, you're going to get a split salary. If you get hurt the first year, your minimum salary for the second year is to get lowered so this idea for this is joe milton for this idea that hey joe milton's

gonna get the foxborough flu all right in order to stay and and even though he's healthy he's gonna agree to be say he's gonna injured and he's agreed to get on the front row flu that's it that's going to cost him money in 2024 because his salary goes drops down from 795 to about 400 000 and it's sadly instead of being 960 000 in 2025 will be 840 000 so it so that's like close to half a million dollars for this Foxborough flu thing. Okay? All right? And this is before we say that every time a player plays a snap, they make money on the NFL. Before the performance-based pay thing.

All right? So that's, you know, every time a player makes a snap, especially if you're lower salary, you make money. Every snap gives you some money at the end of the day. All right. So that's, you know, every time a player makes a loss, especially if you're low on salary, you make money. Every snap gives you some money at the end of the day. All right. This is a pretty straightforward. They could cut them anytime and create cap space. That's the downside of being a low round, a day free pick. Your team, you create cap space by losing, by cutting you. It's a pretty straightforward deal. The only guarantee money is a signing bonus.

You got a signing bonus, about $183,000, and that's it. He's not going to get protected. That's not going to save him any money. We're not going to cut him because we're going to lose that kind of dead money. All right? And when you're at the cap of $255 million, $183,000 in dead money is meaningless. All right? So we showed Milton. It'll be around the same numbers for Bell. And let's go with the – and I should say this because Joe Milton is a quarterback.

It doesn't matter what position you play. The amount of money you get, it's the same. All right? But back in the day, when I first started doing it, it didn't matter what position you play. You would get more money, especially at the top of the draft. All right? So Marcellus Dow is a member of the secondary.

He's going to get a small signing. He got a small signing bonus. Oh, look. Okay. Now, his signing bonus, you can see, is just a little bit bigger than Joe Milton. All right? But really, it doesn't protect him at all. All right?

He's got a chance to play some snaps on defense. And the more snaps he plays, the better chance he gets to 35%. I don't think he'll get to 35%, but the more snaps you play, it helps you get to 35% for over three years. And if you do that, Mike, you raise your salary from the $1.19 million in 2027 to the low RFA tender, all right? And by that time, it could be like $4 million. So if he plays, Marcelo Zdow plays 35% of the snaps.

Hakeem Bell plays 35% of the snaps, all right? I dealt with Joe. I don't want, no offense to Joe Milton, but I don't want him seeing him playing 35% of the snaps, all right? with joel i don't want no offense to joe milden but i don't want him seeing playing 35 of the snaps all right okay don't make me out there all right all right um they can raise this salary in 2027 by several million dollars all right and folks this is why i'm like one of those guys who say like when people say old the pages have x amount of cap space in 2027. All right?

Those numbers, they don't take into account the fact that some of these players' rookie deals, these players have increased their salary. The same way that Ramondre Stevenson, his salary is $3.3 million this year because he's played in the National his first three years of his rookie deal to raise his salary all right okay and that's one i'm just i don't want to rant anymore okay let's move okay and then we go the next um we did melton we did bell and we'll talk about bell and then we got baker all right he's a wide receiver in a fourth round. He got a pretty decent amount of cash. All right. His signing bonus was over $800,000. All right. Mike, I've said this before to you. Every healthy fourth round pick has made the week one roster since 2000. All right. Since Bill Belichick. That's true for most teams.

Occasionally, every couple years or so, there's a fourth-round poker that gets cut. So if you're doing a 50-man roster projection, you can put down Javon Baker. And I should say, for Hakeem Bell, the seventh-round pick, it's less than 50% of those draft picks make it to the 53-man roster. Sixth round picks is a little bit higher,

but still less than 50%. And they have a lot of guys for some reason who've been drafted in the sixth round picks who have been on IR, all right, the first year. And then we go to my Drake May. All right. Which just cracks me up because it happened today. I was not expecting that. All right. And I didn't even put in. OK, folks, I am so sorry. All right. Column D is supposed to say roster third day training camp roster bonus. I am so sorry it doesn't.

All right. Okay. So you see where it says salary for 2025, and it says 900, and as I pointed, it doesn't really help you, $960,000. And the next column over it says $1.5 million. So that means in the third day of the 2025 Ross training camp, Drake Bay will get that amount of money in a roster bonus.

All right. Because he got drafted that high, all right, that's typical now. All right. So he doesn't get that $1.5 million over the next 36 weeks because, folks, the player's salary gets paid over a 36-week time period starting in September for the next 36 weeks. All right? You can see, and it's all of it's guaranteed. All right?

So if you were to cut him at any time, you would eat all that dead money. All right? So obviously you save some dead money if you were to trade him. And you can see right now is why if he plays well, you can see he's got an API of $9.16 million.

He's right now the 25th highest paid quarterback in the league. He plays, all he has to do is play like the 16th, 17th best. And the Patriots are getting so much value for that. He plays anywhere near like this. And if he gets placed like the 10th or the 5th best, oh my goodness. You're talking about somebody who should be earning $50 to $60 million.

And yet we're paying him $9.16 million. All right? It's not in the reporting, and I don't know this, and I won't know this for a couple of weeks, Mike, if he got the signing bonus all at one time. To me, it doesn't matter. Okay? All I can tell you right me, it doesn't matter. Okay. All I can tell you right now, it gets prorated the same.

So if he got the $23.5 million, if he gets it like $20 million today and $5 million in 2025, it doesn't matter. The proration stays the same, Mike. All right. You can see right here. It's kind of funny, Mike, that his cap number. All right. It's six point six six one million dollars. All right. He dropped. He replaced the player making nine hundred eighty five thousand dollars off the top 51 list. All right. I just happen to show there's several players who have that salary on the team. I just happen to choose Billy Zappi as the person he took off the list. I'm thinking a quarterback replacing a quarterback.

All right. Miguel, awesome stuff going forward. Definitely a lot of excitement in Foxborough and a lot to keep an eye on. However, there are still three picks that have not been signed. Jalen Polk, Caden Wallace, Layden Robinson. When we come back, I'm going to pick Miguel's brain about those three and ask him which of these may be the next domino to fall. And of course,

in a segment to Lockdown Patriots, Miguel's going to take us home by setting the record straight and putting to rest all of those erroneous cat myths floating around out there when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Listen up, Lockdown listeners. You want to get tickets to watch your favorite team in Foxborough in their home opener in

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Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Patriots, well, thank you for joining us here today again on locked on patriots and joining me on this foxborough finance pulse check episode is who else the pats cap himself the only man that is able to give us all the information we need with relation to the patriots finances my good friend miguel Benz on the Pats cap himself Miguel in the previous segment you absolutely brought it home by brick by giving us a brick by brick detail my friend with regard to extensions and the signings and how the signs initially of Joe Milton Raheem Bell Marcella style work their way up to Javon Baker. And then, obviously, the crown jewel of the day, Tuesday, word coming out that the Patriots

and Drake May have agreed to terms on his rookie contract. But, Miguel, there are still three Patriots that have yet to sign on the dotted line. We know it's a formality, folks, but there is still a protocol that has to be followed. Miguel, when you look at the three picks that are still outstanding for the New England Patriots, who do you believe will be the next domino to fall and what type of impact the order in which these players sign will have on the New England Patriots' finances, if any? Okay, I would expect it to be the fourth round pick.

I was surprised they didn't announce it at the same time they did it bigger. Right. Um, it's same kind of structure, um, a little bit more money. All right. Um,

but it's the guy, the only guaranteed money. It's a signing bonus. All right. And that's it. He's going to have the same minimum salaries as Baker. right i was surprised on it so the next and then next thing would be um third round pick caden wallace all right he his salary is going to be a little bit different than the other guys and i should say this at the beginning all right the salaries for the people

drafted in a fourth fifth sixth and seventh round are just at the minimum. All right? But if people drafted in the first, second, and third round, there's a 25% rule. All right? And you can see that with Drake Mays' deal. All right? So you can see right now his cap number. And, of course, I didn't update this thing.

But 25% of his cap number is 1665 comma 444 all right and that is that how much his compensation increases each year but because um then he's got the little increase in his base salary and then he's got the roster bonus the third day, all right? So that is why his salary increases like that. He doesn't have the – so these numbers here are the minimum salaries, and then he has this extra thing, all right? This is true for this extra bonus, extra compensation, this 25% thing. It's going to be true for everyone drafted in their first three rounds, all right? Everyone who's drafted in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh round, they're going to have this minimum rounds, all right? Everyone who's drafted in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh round, they're going to have this minimum salary, all right?

And you'll see some agents, especially for the seventh round pick, say the player signed a $4 million deal. Well, folks, that's just for the minimum salaries, all right? It sounds a lot of money, but he's actually not guaranteed. Especially when you're a seventh round pick, you only get every guaranteed money is maybe $100,000 signing bonus. But the agents fluff it up by saying he has a $4.02, something like $4.03 million deal. All right?

So the third-round pick, he's going to get – that's Caden Wallace. He's going to have the 25% rule applied. There's no guaranteed money but the signing bonus. I thought maybe that they would start giving guaranteed money to third-round picks this year, but the owner said no. And I probably shouldn't say this out loud, but you can't tell me that the owners are colluding on this. Okay.

I think they're willing to have guaranteed money for first round picks and have guaranteed money salaries for the second round picks. But they're not willing to have guaranteed money for the third round picks. All right. So for Polk, they're going to probably negotiate about how much guaranteed salary he's going to get in his fourth year salary. Because we know, I can tell you right now, his 2024 salary is going to be fully guaranteed. Whatever he gets in compensation for 2025 is going to be fully guaranteed. Whatever he gets in compensation in 2026 will be fully guaranteed. The negotiation of how much 2027

compensation is going to be fully guaranteed. All right? I could see that there's not a lot of people who drafted around him who got signed, so I could see this taking a little bit longer than maybe going into May. I could see this taking a little bit longer than maybe going into May.

I could see it being not into May, into July. All right. Oh my gosh, I got Drake May on my mind. Okay. It's May Day, but. No, no. All right. So hopefully that answers your question, Mike.

I was like, go off. No, absolutely. I mean, without question. And I'm glad that you broke down the differences that you're going to be seeing in the deals with the third rounder, with Caden Wallace, and the intricacies in terms of guaranteed money and how that negotiation is going to go with the second rounder. I was curious as to why the fourth rounder would not be announced at the same time. It was a little surprising to me that Layden, that Layden's contract was not announced at the same time, Javon Baker's because from previous conversations, and you've been doing this now with us on Patriots for the better part of

five seasons, it usually stands to reason that those fourth round deals don't differ too much, but it is good to know. And I think you find it perfectly as to what may be and why that may be the next domino to fall. But this is going to be very interesting over the course of the next couple of days, watching this Patriots rookie class, this draft class come together and all these guys signing their rookie deals. Miguel, before we move on

from the subject, I don't want to steal your thunder when it comes to setting the record straight, but because we're still dealing with the rookies and we're still dealing with first-year players, a lot of questions come in to Locked On Patriots. We get a lot of questions. Murph and I get a lot of mailbag questions regarding the undrafted rookie free agent class. When it comes to undrafted rookie free agents that the Patriots have signed or money that might be earmarked to bringing in guys that either come in for tryouts or okay that may not make other

rosters and come in here to new england what type of salary cap situation should the patriots be in obviously they've got a lot in reserve right now they're not going to be hurting but what should the patriots expect what type of impact could that have on the Patriots' salary cap for this season? There's a limit to how much the total UFJ class can get in the signing bonus.

I'm going to just use a round number of $180,000. You can guarantee any amount of their salary. What usually has happened is if you really So you can guarantee any amount of their salary, all right? What usually has happened is if you really have a lot of competition for the player, you'll guarantee them up to the practice squad salary, all right? Looking at the UDFAs, not one of them the what a practice squad player would get fully over the year all right chantry huntry got the most guaranteed salary got 175 000 all right and

folks i know that's more money than the guaranteed money than what the guys got in the sixth and seventh round all right but all of this is really i consider it a prepayment of his practice squad salary it doesn't guarantee him a roster spot folks we just see that we just saw that with malik cutting him all right from last year who got a a decent amount of guaranteed salary but didn't make the 53 man roster nor did tight end andrew breck shout out to claire cooper all right when he was an under address of free reaction he got a ton of guaranteed money guarantee money for an undrafted free agent but now mcdrow's malcolm butler was a tryout player got zero guaranteed money made a fee for three minute it really the guaranteed money is folks is the indication of the team saying yeah we're thinking what we like you're

gonna assign you to the practice squad but it doesn't guarantee you a spot in a 15-man roster, whatever the guarantee money. It's what you do in the training camp, what you do in the OTAs, and what you do when you study in the playbook. That matters. Because literally, $175,000 is so small in comparison to $255 million. All right. So I could tell you right now, Mike, they got total.

We have six UDVAs with a total of $370,000 in guaranteed salary. Their signing total salary in the month was $84,500. All right. None of them right now are in the top 51 list. The highest current cap number is $5,000. All right. Because only the second bonus preparation counts against the cap right now because the $795,000 salary is not high enough to put them in the top 51 list.

All right. So for example, if they now, if they were to waive John tree Hunter, all right, the Patriots would lose $175,000 in cap space because the salary would get empty. Right.

Hopefully he, he clears waivers. Then you could sign them to the practice squad and then you get credit on next year's cap for $17 all right and so that's why the players won't get that he's not gonna get the 175 000 twice okay he's gonna get it one time from the um um so i don't that hopefully answers your question. There's what? Some UDFAs, three of them, didn't get any guaranteed salary. All they got was a signing bonus, right?

And I should have said this in the beginning. Thank you, Mike. This is the last week that a player can get cut and future signing bonus prerogations hit the 2020 all of it hits the 2024 cut okay because at starting or after June 1st if you have future signing bonus

prerogations and you get cut those future signing bonus prerogations will hit the 2025 cap very good point okay so that's going to be interesting to see um i know it's sophie oh i don't hate when people mispronounce my name so i'm not gonna mispronounce i'm not gonna try to attempt to say your last name i know sophie had in the cap hit and dead money, if you trade it before June 2nd, as you can see.

So like here, this is the can you scroll the mic to the right? OK, you can see this is afterwards. You can see the difference if you just look at it, all right? Because the two basically, if you wait till June 2nd to cut them or to trade them, that 2025 signing bonus proration will be on the 25 cap rather than on the 2024 cap cap all right and folks if you do any um exploration on your own when it comes to salary cap information and you look at the tabs especially on over the cap.com you'll notice pre june 1st post june 1st miguel has outlined very clearly why that designation exists and the cap hits that result as of whether or not the player is cut or traded before the deadline and then after that deadline. So excellent point. And I'm glad that you mentioned Juju because it is a popular question

that a lot of people have out there. Miguel has outlined very nicely here what it means for the Patriots if they do hold on to him, if they don't, and what the pre- and post-June 1st implications will be for that financially. Thank you so much, buddy. This was phenomenal. And folks, we are not done yet because Miguel has still got a few more up his sleeve. We are going to set the record straight in a segment unique to Lockdown Patriots, where Miguel is going to take a velvet hammer to all those erroneous cat myths floating around out there. And he's going to educate everyone, including yours truly, when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast wraps up right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network,

your team every day. Listen up, Boston sports fans. It's winner take all time in the NBA and the NHL and FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own. Do you have enough confidence in your fandom to make it work for you? Well, if you're going to do so, do it with FanDuel, because right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

That's $150 to bet on spreads, money lines, player props, and so much more. Visit FanDuel.com and make every playoff shot count. Fanduel, America's number one sportsbook. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on LockedOn Patriots. And we are absorbing the wisdom, the counsel, the wit, and the financial genius of the Pharaoh of Foxborough Finance himself. The new name we're going with right now in this episode is the Commander-in-Chief of Calculations, my good friend, Miguel Benzano himself, joining us to talk about Drake May's

rookie deal, all of the rookie deals that have been signed, those that haven't been, and also some very interesting information on the undrafted rookie free agents as well. But Miguel, we've been doing this show now together for about five years now. You have been our financial expert. You're a dear friend. And I always love when you join me here on Locked On Patriots. It's always my honor. And I truly mean that.

But one of the things I love most about having you on, my friend, is giving you the platform to set the record straight, to eradicate all of those cap myths that are floating around out there that are either shared by people like me in the media or fans or funded. There are a lot of times where inaccurate information on the salary cap is shared. Folks, I'm not going to point the fingers at anybody. I'll point it at myself. I've done it. Miguel's called me out on it and made me a lot better when it comes to this. That's why whenever I have a question, I always go to Miguel and he sets me straight. So buddy, I'm going to ask you to do that now. I'm going to ask you to take a look around Patreon Nation and let us know some of those cat myths that are floating around out there. You need to set the record straight on. The floor is yours, Batscap.

Okay, let's talk about it, Mike. All right. Elliot Wolfe goes on Kate Adams' show today. And she asks him about the spending. All right. And he argues, yeah, we have spent money. All right. And folks. And I pointed this out to Mike and let's see. These are the Patriots assigned in free agency. I'm not. OK.

They signed they didn't send any big name external free agents. They did try to sign Calvin Ridley, all right? But they didn't get it. They didn't. He took more money with Tennessee. And I got to say this. When I heard about Calvin Ridley, somebody asked me. I don't think I even.

Somebody asked me on Twitter, but I don't think I got the chance to respond. How much money I would stop at, all right? Because he was around there. I think they were talking about $18 million. I said, I'll go as high as $20 million API. Patriots have reportedly offered $22. He got $23. All right?

And I could see why they stopped at $20. They weren't going to top that. All right? When Nico Collins just signed a deal for 25. All right? Calvin Ridley is not Nico Collins. All right? He shouldn't be that close to Nico Collins.

All right? So if the Patriots are going to top 23, they have to go top 24, 25. That's too much for Calvin Ridley. All right? But if you don't want to give credit for trying, that's fine. But let's see what they actually did. And let's scroll down a bit.

And this is just for this year. The Patriots are right now 24th, excuse me, in 2024, eighth in total spending, seventh in API, sixth in full guarantees. There's another column called total guarantees on Over the Cap, and I got all this information from over at cap.com, right? They have another column called total guarantees. I don't use that column because some of those guarantees never become,

like engineering guarantees in the future, never become full guarantees. The only guarantees I guarantee are full guarantees because I know that you have to pay them out. Fifth and first year cash, Mike.

They signed a total of 11 players who were not on another team in 2023. I don't know if that's – I think that's around the league average. It might even be higher than the league average. All right? The lowest ranking on those four categories is eight. All right? And if you want to say, hey, they didn't sign a big name, that's fine.

But let's not say that that equatesates they didn't spend the money this year they have spent the money all right and then we have some i don't want mike i i was thinking about this about setting the record straight but i don't want to name names because we i didn't have we didn't have given the opportunity to to i could say this but i'm not giving the name i'm not gonna i'm not giving the opportunity to counter their argument to support their argument there's someone who said well they got pages have 50 million dollars in cash space and and they're trying to fight against narrative they didn't spend money folks cap space is not cash cash space is not cash cash is not cash fees and i can show you that i showed you the things with where

drake may is going to get over 23 million dollar signing bonus in cash this year so and he's got the 795 000 sorry that's 24 million dollars in compensation this year but against the cap he's only going to count $6.7 million. All right? So I can't stress this enough, Mike. Cap space is not cash. And folks, if you think that the Patriots are cheap, are not spending money, I'm willing to bet $500 right now, folks. All right? And I'll say they'll finish in the top 10 in spending for 2024.

All right? And if you lose the bet, just give the money to Harvard Habitat if you made it. I am sure these guys who keep on hopping on the cash spending of the pages are not willing to bet, put their money where

their mouth is. I am. All right? Because why am I willing to do so, Mike? Because I know that the Patriots have close to $50 million in incentives. That current cash flow has zero, zero incentives in it. Does anyone really believe that not one Patriot's going to earn not one incentive of this year? Come on. All right? After they sign their draft picks, they're going to be in the top. They're already right now

13th in active cash spending and 13th in total cash spending by overthecap.com. All right? This team has, but this team leads the leagues on incentives. All right?

And let's pretend some players don't have incentives. Why? It's probably because of injuries. That means if you have injuries, you have real salaries as replacement players. So, folks, I'm putting out there. I'm trying to raise money for the habitat of humanity if you're sure if you're sure that patriots are cheap and have been cheap this year and let's say this i'm gonna say i don't want to name some names of my followers but i would but i don't know how you guys gonna but let's let's i'm willing to put the 500 and in. You lose, and we just give it to Habit of Habit to Immunity.

All right? I don't know what else I could say about it because, Mike, like, literally, like, we started hearing about the cash spending in February, in March, and, right, in April. And the Patriots had the third overall pick. We all knew at that time that the third overall pick, no matter who it was, was going to give the signing bonus of over $20 million.

All right? But when they would complain about the cash spending, they weren't including what the Patriots were going to pay out in the signing bonus on that money. So you can ding the Patriots for not getting a big name free agent. I'm fine with that. But let's not say they didn't spend because that's not the facts. That's just not the fact. That's not the truth.

That's just fake news. Yeah, absolutely well said. And that's, Mike, if we were in a bar, all right, and we were with someone who said the Patriots didn't spend money this year, all right, I would be like saying, let's just

put some money right down. I'll buy the next 10 rounds. We can just go round and round drinking on this. But there's no... You cannot tell me when you are fifth and first year cash this year

and it is May 28th and you still have three draft picks left to sign. Because remember, right now over 76% of the draft picks have been signed. So I'm using the site overthecap.com. So most of the draft picks have been signed. All right?

And you're going to tell me that none of these guys who have incentives, like Kendrick Bourne, Austin Ho kj osmond hunter henry none of them are gonna get in any not zero dollars in incentives all right come on i just i don't believe that at all and i am willing to bet money on it and that's um and it's disappointing, Mike. Like someone said today in a tweet, in theory re-signing your own free agent doesn't make you better.

And it could cost, like for example, I used Michael Awano as an example. Well, they had to pay him more money than he was getting paid. Alright? I mean, but if you didn't sign Michael Awano, you would have a big hole at right tackle. The Pages

can't win in the media. They sign the best offensive tackle in Fiji this year. That's my opinion, but that's an opinion that was shared by most people doing free evaluations. If you don't like...

That's just a consensus. He was the number one offensive tackle out there in a free agency. All right? If they had let him go, Mike, the same beat writers would complain about the Patriots being cheap. They re-sign him

and they don't get credit for it. And let's be real. The best – who you most likely be right about? A player you've seen in your organization for the last four years or an outside player? Who are you taking the most risk? The outside player versus the guy who's been on your system for a while. All right?

So do you want the Patriots to throw money away? Or do you want them to spend money wisely? That comes to question. That's my ending. That's all I got. Because literally, Mike, I've heard more times this year the Patriots have spent less money in the last 10 years. And I'm thinking over the last 10 years, they won three Super Bowls and went to another one.

And I'm like, what else do you want? Literally, that's where you focus. If you really want to be a fan of cash spending, become a fan of the Cleveland Browns. Okay, they spend more money than anybody else. What have they done in the last 10 years? I'm sorry my friend Jack Duffin, who covers the Browns salary cap. All right, but what have they done in the last 10 years?

Who would you rather be over the last? Ask someone who's not a football fan and say, who would you rather be a fan of in the last 10 years? Who would you rather be over the last ask someone who's not a football fan and say who would you rather be a fan of the last 10 years? The Cleveland Browns, whoever won Jack or the New England Patriots? Alright? Drop us a line in the comments section below. Let us know what

you're thinking and you can always drop questions to Pats Cap at his Twitter at Pats Cap or you can drop them right here on Locked On Patriots in the YouTube comments section. Always willing, always accurate. You cannot ask for better than this man.

When it comes to Patriots salary cap coverage, in my humble opinion, you can't ask for a better man in any way, shape or form. He is my dear friend. And all the praise that I heap on him is certainly not prefabricated folks. It is from the heart because he deserves it and then some. Miguel, thank you for joining us here today.

Once again, you want to follow the Commander-in-Chief of Calculations at Matt's Cap. And, folks, keep it right here on Locked On Patriots because we still have expert analysis coming throughout the week from Locked On hosts. Yeah, that's right. We're going to be crossing the streams later this week. And don't forget, mailbag was moved a little bit due to the holiday.

We will be bringing you the mailbag here on Thursday. Our good friend Thomas Murphy joins us to wade through what is a robust mailbag this week. Folks, you're not going to want to miss it. But in the meantime, I want to sincerely thank my good friend, Miguel Benzon, for joining me today. And most of all, I want to thank all of you in Patriots Nation for joining me and for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. On behalf of the pharaoh of Foxborough Finance himself, Miguel Benzon, I'm Mike DeBate reminding all of you to stay safe and to stay well and to be the change you wish to see in the world.

Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back again tomorrow on Locked on Patriots.