Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Finances and the 2022 NFL Draft — 4/15/22

Episode Date: April 17, 2022

As the 2022 NFL Draft draws near, the New England Patriots continue their preparations for selecting their upcoming rookie class. Part of that prep involves making the proper financial moves to ensure smooth business. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Miguel “PatsCap” Benzan, as the duo discuss Patriots finances, the Draft, and what moves may still be made by the Pats prior to the start of the 2022 NFL Season.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.Shady RaysEXCLUSIVELY FOR OUR LISTENERS, HEAD TO SHADYRAYS.COM AND USE CODE LOCKEDON TO GET FIFTY PERCENT OFF TWO OR MORE PAIRS OF POLARIZED SUNGLASSES. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patriots fans, the 2022 NFL draft is less than two weeks away. Everybody knows what they want the Patriots to do, but how exactly are they going to do it? Meaning all the financials behind the draft. We've got the financial guru here with us today. The Pats Cat talks draft, free agency, and sets the record straight. I'm Mike DeBate, and 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 joining me here today on this weekend episode of pod and thank you once again most importantly for making locked on patriots a daily part of your new england patriots coverage remember locked on patriots free and available on all platforms make locked on patriots your first listen every day by downloading subscribe to and following the locked on patriots podcast on one of those free platforms, and also smash that subscribe button on YouTube.

I am your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriot Country of Sports Illustrated, so be sure to interact with me. Let me know what's on your mind. Send that feedback to the internet by reaching out to me and following me on the Bird app at MDABATENFL. And while you're out there showing some weekend love to that Twitterverse, you're going to want to follow the Lockdown Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots.

That's fans. Fridays are always fun here on the pod. We always love closing the week in style. And my guest today defines the word closing the week in style. I've been introducing him the last couple of times he's been on this pod as basically being able to share the microphone with the financial Mozart of Patriots Nation, and I completely do that. He does a

phenomenal masterpiece every single time he joins me here on the microphone. He is the Pats cap himself, the best of the best. The plaque for the alternates does not exist because, quite frankly, folks, he has no equal in what he does. My good friend, Miguel Benzón. Miguel, once

again, thank you for joining me here today. Welcome back to Locked On Patriots. Always an honor and a pleasure to join you, Mike. It's awesome for me to be in here. You've built up my ego so much. I love it. Well, I assure you, the building up of the ego, folks, is definitely something I've been

accused of doing, I assure you. It's all from the heart, and I mean that. Very few people do I hold in higher regard than my guest today, not just for the financial wisdom and counsel that he provides to us here on Locked On Patriots, not only because he chooses Locked On Patriots to be his home for setting the record straight, but most importantly, just being one of the great guys that I know in my life. Some of the great work that he does, not just for Patriots media, and not to mention Patriots finances, but the great work that you do for Habitat for Humanity

and just the great family man and the friend that you are. But I consider myself a better person to know you. And that being said, there are financials that need to be discussed because you know what, bud, it is less than two weeks until the draft happens. My vacation gets over. Illustrious Las Vegas, Nevada. Really, really i just it's going to be a happening no question about it and the draft is very very highly anticipated for so many teams really this year the new england patriots uh i think there's a special spotlight on the pats for the draft this year a little bit of a slower year in free agency than in 2021 and i say that tongue-in-cheek folks yeah it was a lot slower but the patriots did make some impactful moves uh but i think there is an eye on the draft this year to really make an impact that as a matter of fact we met with new patriots director

of player personnel matt grow earlier today members of the media had a chance to talk to him by a zoom conference very affable very forthcoming, very upfront, and very revealing. And it was refreshing. Someone in his role to be, I think, as forthcoming as he's been, really been a pleasure getting a chance to get to know Matt. And one of the things that kept coming up, Miguel, one of the phrases that kept coming up was immediate impact. And that leads me to believe that the Patriots are going to look at this draft coming up basically eyeing players that can have an immediate impact and they do have some early picks I think they're going to go with that and here on Locked On Patriots we've talked about

players that may be a great fit for the Pats Murph and I muse the draft every Monday Steve Balistrieri, Kevin Tame, a colleague of mine at Sports Illustrated, have been on this show several times and talked about players that can make an impact. Claire and I have broken those down on Wednesdays. But so much talk, Miguel, is centered around what the Patriots might do, but not a lot of talk centers around how the Patriots are going to do it. And that's where you come in, my friend, because in order to sign players, in order to put players under contract and feel the team for the 2022 season, they have to have the financials to do it. And right now, according to

your calculations, and I'm going by your great work, because you always have that number right in the forefront, exactly where it needs to be every single time the patriots have 999 180 in available cap space you and i both know that's not enough to go through and to operate for the year so as the patriots look toward the draft my friend take it away how do the patriots get financially ready for the 2022 NFL draft. All right. So right now, Mike, like you said, you said they got $900,000 in cap space. Right. If they don't make any trades between now and the end of the draft, to sign their draft picks is going to take about $3.1 million in cap space. All right.

They don't have to sign their draft picks right after the draft. They could wait to right before training camp. No competitive advantage is lost by waiting until July. No competitive advantage is gained by signing them in early May. And what do I mean by competitive advantage? None of us is going to see a difference on the field if the player sign, a rookie signs in may or in july we're not it's not going to make a difference to the holly on the field because they're not going to there hasn't

been underneath underneath the 2000 since the 2011 cba not one patriot draft pick has held out all right and when you're drafting at 21 all, and you're not in the top five, you have no reason to even – no reason to think they can negotiate, no reason to even think about holding out. It's not going to happen. All right? So the only thing they have to worry about for the Patriots, they've got to worry about for the draft right now is to have enough –

all teams to have enough signing bonus money to operation for the sign of undrafted free agents all right right i don't know what the number is going to be but i think the number let's just say the number was around 150 000 last year so this year let's make it 180 000 so 180 000 and since undrafted free agents are signed for three years, it's 180,000 divided by three equals $60,000. Patriots have more than $60,000 in cap space. The other thing we need to make sure of is that they have

enough room for these draft picks and undrafted free agents. Right now, they have 70 players signed. So if they draft eight, they can then sign 12 undrafted free agents. So they have 20 roster spots right now. Right. Some teams, like the Jets, have like 81.

So in order to sign undrafted free agents, they're going to cut some players between now and then. All right? To get now, so that answers the immediate need of what's going to happen in two weeks. Like I said, I don't know when they're going to sign the draft picks. They don't have no rush. But I do know they have to create cap space to do so.

And if they wait till after June 1st, all right, to sign the draft picks, they might cut a player who has future signing bonus parations to create the cap space. Because if you cut a player after or trade a player after June 1st, those future signing parations will hit the cap in 2023.

Where if you cut a player now, all that future signing bonus parations will hit this year's cap. So you'll actually be able to create more cap space by cutting or trading a player after June 2nd. They still have several ways, Mike, to create cap

space. Let's just see. There's several ways. There's hundreds of ways for them to create cash space. We don't have time on this Easter weekend to go over. We really don't. We got this several ways.

Let me just give you some names and how. Matthew Judon converted most of his salary into a signing bonus. Ditto for Jalen Mills. Ditto for Kendrick Bourne. You could extend Devon Godshaw.

You could extend Claire's baby. Hunter Henry. Create $5 million in cap space. If... I know you talked about it a little while ago about Jake Bailey. If the Patriots draft

Matt, that punter, that left-handed punter. Matt Ariza. Yep. Okay. Thank you. I blacked out on his name. They could create over $3 million in cap space. Right. All right. They could extend Jonathan Jones jones they're gonna have space all right um they could create cap space during the traffic draft weekend by cutting a player or two or trading a player to like nick hill harry or jared stinham they have several ways to get there mike they have surprised me honestly mike i never i had listed on my I'm looking at my spreadsheet, folks. I had listed converting to Trish Wyatt as a possibility, but he didn't make my most likely ways of creating cap space that way.

All right? I have said this before. The Patriots will always do something during the offseason that surprised me. And so far, they've done two. So I'm expecting another one to happen because things run in three. Those two being trading Shaq Mason and converting most of the district-wide salary. All right. So I'm expecting a third surprise between now and when they finish signing their draft picks.

So I'm just giving the most likely. So hopefully that answers your question. They have the ways, and they will create cap space, Mike, because they don't even have enough cap space to sign new graphics. So they definitely don't have enough cap space to operate the rest of the league yet. And we'll address that going forward. Yeah, exactly.

And we will address that going forward. There's no question about it. My question to you, Beck, and I know that you've touched on this in terms of, you know, you've made it very clear that when the Patriots have to create cap space and when they should create cap space are really two, I don't want to say two different things because they're not two different things, but they do have time in terms of being able to do that. In terms of a timeline and when you expect them to to do that is there any expectation on your end as to when or really are they dancing to the beat

of their own drum they dance to the beat of their own drum they don't need they could decide they have not been consistent and when they sign their draft picks yeah um i wouldn't surprise me if when they make – if they decide to sign the draft picks, we're going to see a move. It's going to be the – it's not going to be – I'll say this. It's not going to be the guys in the seventh or the – whatever drives that drop it in the seventh or sixth or the fifth or the fourth rounds. That's going to cause them caps.

It's going to be the guy in the first round, the guy in the second round, and the guy in the third round. They might need to create gaps, people, depending on what they do in the draft. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. If they're going to make a move, they'll beat to their own drum because they don't need, they, I'm convinced that they believe that they should not push out that much money into the future or borrow cap space from the future when you have a rookie QB on a cheap deal. I think they have not spent as much money as they did last year. I expect them to spend more money than in

2023 to build around Matt Jones. And listening to Matt grow today and how we talked about the need for immediate impact players, I agree with him.

So my dream scenario of the patriots trading back and getting the first rounder in 2023 as i'm throwing that out the window so if you heard me say that before i'm not sure i don't think that's gonna happen now unless i just tossed that plan out the window yeah and i mean let's face it i mean everybody is expecting bill belichick is going to trade I just tossed that plan out the window. Yeah. And I mean, let's face it. I mean, everybody is expecting Bill Belichick is going to trade down. That's what he always does.

I mean, you know, Bill Belichick has actually traded up in the draft more times than people would give him credit for. So I think they really approach it year to year and they take a look at the players that are available and the needs on this roster. And I think the needs on this roster right now are what's driving that, Miguel.

I think it's, you know, obviously there's holes on the offensive line. There's a spot at corner that a lot of people want to see fulfilled. I think the Patriots need help, not just at the linebacker position, but also along with the line. I think they're lacking that solid presence in the middle that really is

going to facilitate them to be able to get after the quarterback and stop the run. So there's a lot of different areas. I know a a wide receiver i know a lot of you are probably screaming they need a wide out yeah they probably do need some help there i mean i think davante parker lessens their need to spend a first rounder on a wide out but at the same time you know they're going to address that position and you know we've just scratched the surface there are still a lot of positions that the patriots may move here. And, you know, folks, it's always, always interesting when Miguel comes on and joins

us here to let us know how the Patriots are going to do it. That's the draft. And they are going to make moves in order to be able to spend money and have operating costs to support what they need to to sign their draft fix. But the Patriots may also not be done in the waves of free agency. Miguel knows as well as I do that after the draft and in the intermittent period between the draft and OTA training camp that there are a lot of players that are cap casualties throughout the league

and they're cut loose. Might the Patriots still be able to be active in this department? I'll ask Miguel that question and moves that could possibly still be made when this weekend episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, Miguel, the weather is getting nicer. It's a holiday weekend coming up. We love the holidays here on Locked On Patriots. And also, we like when the weather starts getting a little bit brighter.

The days are lasting longer. It's getting darker later. You need to be able to do something to combat that brightness. And what do you want to do? You want to wear your shades. When your future is as bright as Miguel's, you wear your sunglasses all the time. You wear them at night. I said this to Claire the other day.

Corey Hart's got nothing on her. Her future's bright. She's wearing the shades all the time. Well, if you're going to indulge in wearing some designer yet affordable sunglasses for this season, I recommend my good friends over at Shady Rays because they are an independent sunglasses company that gives you the features of $200 sunglasses for a fraction of the price. That's right, folks, a fraction of the price. price that means polarized lenses well-constructed durable frames and premium high-end finishes and also something that you won't find anywhere else is shady rays insane protection program and i say that in a good way shady rays includes lost and

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Patriots fans, my good friend, Miguel Benzon, the Pats cap himself, the salary cap top gun joins me here on this weekend episode of the pod. And Miguel has already dropped wisdom and counsel that has broken the meter here today. And we always do when he joins me, but we're still haven't even scratched the surface yet, folks. Miguel, in the previous segment, we talked a lot about what the Patriots need to do to financially prepare for the upcoming 2022 NFL draft. And the Pats are going to do that. They need the clear cap space, obviously. They need to worry about operating costs and be able to operate for the entire year. And that's something they're not equipped to do right now. You know it,

I know it, of course the Patriots know it, and they're going to continue to do that. One of the things that you mentioned in the last segment was ways in which they might clear some of that cap space. You mentioned extensions, possible extensions or restructurings for Hunter Henry, John O'Smith, some of the big-name free agents last year that the Patriots signed, possible cap casualties guys that could get cut we talked about the possibility of Jake Daly uh that upsets Claire very much by the way she don't like when we talk about that but sorry Claire it's it's a possibility it's a possibility it's absolutely it is I mean not saying it's going to happen it just might happen

that being said the Patriots still have holes on this team and if they have to cut guys loose in order to operate or in order to financially become sound that still means that they're going to need to fill these positions somehow and not every position can be filled from a draft pick if the new england patriots want to be active in that next wave of free agency that's coming, Miguel, that post-draft casualty, veterans hitting the wire type part be made, but how might the Patriots still find ways to be active in free agency even after the draft has come and gone? So, Mike, I'm pretty sure that some teams are going to be like the Jets and maybe the Lions who are close to that 90-man roster will be cutting players. All right?

So they'll be on the way. Either they'll be – if they're vested veterans, a veteran with four or more accrued seasons, they'll just be released. Or if they're not a veteran, they'll be waived. So either the Patriots can sign them as a street free agent, which means that player wouldn't count against the comp pick calculations in the comp pick calculations in 2023. Or if they're waived, the Patriots would have to depend

if their waiver claim goes through or not. The other thing that we know is going to happen is after the draft, the day after the draft, even you can sign a play who was a compensatory free agent and he wouldn't count against, against the compromise pick. So right now the Patriots are going to get a third for JC Jackson and a six for Ted Karras. So you could sign like on May 3rd, after 4 p.m. May 2nd, you could sign a Tyron, Tyron Matthew or any free agent who's available. All right. And you say, well, Miguel, they don't have the cap space.

All right. First, they'll do what they did with taking on Devante Parker, either restructuring a player who had on a deal or cut a player. All right. And those if they're going to sign like a Matthew to a deal, it's going to be a low cap number anyways. In 2022, he's going to know all these guys. Most of the guys they signed in 2021 had a low cap number in 2021 and a high cap number this year so you could sign a big name free agent even most of the guys were still free agents or on the older side all right but maybe you think that matthew could give you that immediate impact that matt crowe was looking for so they have ways they like we just talked about in an earlier segment. They have ways to get the guys. And I'll just say this.

In this part of the offseason, it's very easy for a team to still create cap space, especially with this team who hasn't made very few moves to create cap space. All right? So the only moves off the – I don't even think I see, folks. They have made very few – there's one hand. There's the Craig Caspi's this year. Mason, McCourty, Wise, Benoit. Yeah, those four. Four moves.

The Craig Caspi's. They have way – and they had – my goodness gracious. And Henry Anderson, excuse excuse me in the country right all right so i feel like there's hundreds of ways if you think the possibilities of cutting someone trading someone restructuring a deal extending someone they have hundreds of ways again and they've made five so i'm not worried about it. Look, our good friend Shy, I think he said after my last,

one of my last tweets, he said we were doomed. I'm like, oh goodness gracious, Mike. They're not doomed. I know. Sometimes it feels like that. And I know Shy is one of the big supporters here of Locked On Patriots and a good friend. And we do. We appreciate all the feedback. But, you know, don't buy into the doom and gloom. I know Shai is one of the big supporters here of Locked On Patriots and a good friend. And we do. We appreciate all the feedback. But, you know, don't buy into the doom and gloom.

I know sometimes it looks a little bit difficult to be a Patriots fan, especially when you see the cap space or you see other teams spending a lot in free agency. And you look at what the Pats are doing. And, you know, Miguel, we all see it. We see that little Internet meme that goes, you know, where the stick figure is poking the Patriots logo and saying come on do something you know there's a lot of that that goes around but folks always take the temperant approach and that's why I always love having this man on the pod because he tucks you down off the ledge and he does it in a way that always provides you with the information the financial information that you need to arm yourself for any type of discussion or with Patriots fans who think that either the Pats are just not going to spend

or they don't want to spend or they want to continue to pocket the money. I mean, there's all different rumors and things that go around out there. And yeah, I can hear it in your voice, buddy. I know he's dying to set the record straight here on Lockdown Patriots. The money thing is just crazy. Absolutely. It truly crazy. Absolutely. It truly is. And we're going to give him that platform.

Before I do that, though, I do have one additional question for you. We have seen them make moves, like you said, this offseason. The Dietrich Wise definitely surprised me a little bit, pleasantly. Believe it or not, the first day on the Patriots beat that I had here, Dietrich was the first guy that I had a chance to have an interaction with. So I was really, really happy to do that and to see him around in the fold. Henry Anderson restructuring. I thought he might end up being a cap casualty at this point.

I'm glad to see him hang around because he was a player that intrigued me last year. And I think there is some contribution that he can make to that defense, especially as a run stuffer. He did that so well down in New York. And I really look forward to contribution that he can make to that defense, especially as a run stuffer. He did that so well down in New York, and I really look forward to seeing what he can do here. But there are additional moves, like you said, that can be made. If you were to guess about maybe a surprising move that Patriots fans may not see coming, and we already talked a little bit about um you know jake bailey um if there is a surprise in store for the new england patriots uh could it be to a beloved veteran could it be to someone that is a recent signee uh what seems to be the trend in terms of how you're analyzing this patriots team

uh to how things may shake out and what may happen to get the Patriots back into good, sound financial standing. I think the biggest surprise move that they could make would be extending Nelson Gagulaw. I think that would surprise the heck out of people. But you would create $3.94

million, let's say around $4 million, if you sign him to the same API that he signed for. Right. Other than that, I think every other move that would create a lot of cap space, I think we've talked about, so I don't know if that's a defined surprise. Absolutely. You know what?

Okay, so, man, I guess the biggest surprise would be Nelson Aguilar. I guess the second biggest surprise would be extending Jake Bailey, maybe. And maybe the third biggest surprise would be cutting Devon Garcha now. I mean, everybody thinks they're going to do something with Isaiah Wynn, so I don't think that's a big surprise. He's the biggest. You're going to go with the money, and he's the biggest one, but that's not a surprise.

So I'm talking about surprise. If you're talking about surprises, oof. And I guess the other fourth one would be Jonathan Jones, letting him go. I mean, if you're looking for surprises, those are the things I'd be surprised about, Mike. Yeah. Like, man, I don't see him coming, so that would definitely get me surprised. Yeah, that would be, especially Jones, knowing the need that they have at corner right now and the prowess that he has at that position.

Yeah, I think that would probably delve into the shock department. I like that you mentioned Aguilar. Yeah, if they double dip at cornerback, I could see it. Yeah. I mean, if they had like a draft one in the first round and draft another one in the third round and the guy in the third round is practicing like heck during training camp, I could see a surprise.

I could make the case for a surprise i could i could make the case for a surprise maybe i can make the case especially if they don't have cap space because folks if they don't if they go into if we're late august early september right near training camp and they have very little cap space there's like there's gonna be a couple of players who with a high cap number so i'm not gonna be on this team. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. Like Nelson Aguilar. Yeah, I mean, it really depends

on what happens during training camp. But I could see, I mean, if you're asking for four surprises, I'm going to go with them. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that you make such a good point. And notice, folks, I tried to lay the trap, and he did not take the bait. He did not mention Nikhil Harry's name. So that means that more Miguel, more Miguel. How is that a surprise?

Well, what would be a surprise is if they signed him to an extension, a multi-year extension. I think that would be... That wouldn't be cap space, though. Yeah, exactly. And that would just, you know, that, yeah, that's just my way of trying to upset the fan base because I catch enough. I catch enough for being a Harry apologist. I'm kidding, folks. I assure you I'm kidding. But no, that would not be it. And that would not create cap space.

Miguel is absolutely right. But no, I always appreciate it. And we love to have some fun at your expense. But now it is time for Miguel to put myself and all Patriots media members and a lot of the fan base in their place by setting the record straight, folks. It's a segment that is unique to Locked On Patriots. It's one of my favorite parts of the week. I always love doing this when he's here, and we are going to set that record straight in just a moment. But once again, my friend, it is getting to be the time where the weather's getting nicer.

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to learn more about the trends and the action. Bet online where the game starts. Pats fans, it is always a blast. Talking ball, talking financial financials really just talking anything with my good friend miguel benzon the pats cap himself the financial wisdom and knowledge he's dropped here today really should be a collegiate course in my opinion foxborough finance 101 add it to the docket add it to the syllabus on every new england college campus believe me college kids will be much you know they'll they'll just, they'll be better informed.

They really and truly will by the wisdom and counsel dropped by my good friend here. Bud, we've talked the draft. We've talked about free agency. You've indulged my dumb joke on Nikhil Harry. I can't thank you enough for that. But now it's time for a segment unique here to Lockdown Patriots. And there are a lot of cat myths that are circulating throughout Patriots media, throughout Patriots fandom. I'm not going to belabor the subject any longer, but I am going to give you the microphone.

The comm is yours. Take us home today here on this holiday weekend. Set the record straight, my friend. All yours. I got three things, Mike, that I want to get off my chest. It's not Jason Fitzgerald. It's Nick Corte who does all the

compensatory pick work at overthecap.com. It cracks me up that people still say it thinks it's Jason. It's Nick. It's a simple one. I just want to get it off. As a person who does, I think think sometimes doesn't

get credit enough credit especially when i see some i see something that i i tweet out and i see it in somebody else's things and i know they got they got that information from me they don't give me credit i just want to give nick credit for the compensation work he does. All right. The second thing I wanted to say is I heard one of my followers had mentioned that Bill Simmons and his co-host Kevin had mentioned they follow someone on about the Patriots salary cap. And they had this about a minute discussion about the Rams and the Patriots. And he was talking about how the Patriots don't and Bill was saying how the Patriots don't have any cap space when they have a rookie quarterback all right folks it's the reason I said this before early in the show the major reason is that the Patriots have very little cap space as a one they've chosen not to create cap space all right and the this and the second biggest reason is and Bill had said they only signed four free agents last year.

They signed 25. Okay. More than half were signed to multi-year deals. Right. All right. And I'm including in these numbers, I'm looking at my numbers. I'm also include Trent Brown in these numbers because they acquired him via trade during the early part of the free agency of 2021 all right so i have the guys who have 15 guys who they acquired last year during free agency all right

whose cap number in 2021 was close to 66 million dollars their cap numbers now is over 111 111 million dollars all right that's about a 46 million dollar difference and i'm including guys they they cut like calvary annoyed a pay cut for henry anderson and trent brown his new deal is actually less money, has less a cap number than he had in 2021. Right. Right. Even with those three guys who've taken less, have a small cap number, there's a $46 million difference. All right. And let's not forget, every player, every rookie, any player who's on a rookie deal, this salary went up because they had one more credit season. All right.

So they went from, let's pick a, a rookie last year. He had a $660,000 salary. Now it's up to $825,000. All right. It went up. Everybody who's on a minimum salary deal, this salary went up by the difference in the, in the, in right and then he's talking about and and bill made a funny point about the rams and and the bermuda triangle and i swear is people forget the the players that they have lost during and they have made up they get each year they get several comp picks. All right? And they're going to get four next year.

They're unscheduled to get four next year. All right? And people forget about that. Like they lost Von Miller. All right? This year. They traded away Robert Woods. They traded away Todd Gurley.

And people forget all – and they let Tremaine Johnson go. They let other players go. And they had Andrew Whitworth retire. Those players who have left the roster are in the Bermuda Triangle. People forget about that, and they remember the splashy stuff. Okay? I thought it was Bill Spannman was spot on with the Bumidra triangle analogy. I have to end with the third and last thing. I have to end

with what Rob Gronkowski said. I took it as I listened to the video about the incentives thing and at the end of the day I thought he was joking. Somebody asked me, is it true? And he he basically when we're

talking about that he's basically said that the patriots hold back players from earning their incentives yeah all right so i screwed this thing up mike and i said i've been covering and i just wanted to say this out loud i've been covering the patient salary cap since 2000. i freely admit to not knowing all of the incentives have been in every Patriots contract since then. But that being said, I can't recall a time where I ever

thought the Patriots prevented a player from earning incentive. On the other hand, I can easily point to Corey Dillon in 2004, Sebastian Vollmer in 2014, Vince Wolkwork in 2014, Vince Wolkwork in 2014, Alan Branch in 2016,

and Chris Long in 2016 as instances where I thought the Patriots clearly helped the player reach his incentive. I also know for a fact that the Patriots in 2019 paid Lawrence Guy and James White signing bonuses

after they barely missed out on earning census in 2018. All right? Thank you. Okay. Oh, really? Because that's the narrative. I mean, people are going to take that and they're going to run the Patriots hater playbook and

Bill's cheap. That's it. It's sinister. That's exactly what they do. They take the comment and then they run it, but they don't actually look at what really goes on behind the scenes or what has been done to refute that point. So that's why I am so appreciative of you and making that point

here today. I didn't mean to interrupt you. Please go ahead. But that's that's that's something I really do appreciate because I think it is important for people to hear that, including some of my colleagues here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Oh my gosh. Rob Donkowski

only had, in his Patriots, he only had in some of his deals two years, 2017 and 2018. 2017, he had three tiers, a $1 million tier, a $3 million tier and a $5.5 million tier. All right. He got the $5.5 million tier because he got nominated. He was named to all protein. All right.

I people say, well, they didn't target him in the last game of the year with against the jets okay all right i before the game i i've been cheeky i was i knew about the al pro vote and i said he's going to get it anyways i never thought he was going to play a lot of snaps i didn't think that i didn't think about the tag i think because i knew he was gonna i thought for sure he's gonna get it the alpro team right but it also was also know that he missed the game that season because he got suspended for the bills game right so if he it was his actions in my opinion that caused if he was gonna not get that 5.5 it was his actions not what the patriots did i think think the Patriots, if I'm a fan, and I know some of the people who I were engaging on Twitter also thought that the Gronk was going to get the All-Pro. I'm pretty sure the Patriots thought he was going to get the All-Pro.

I don't think they made the game plan against the Jets to say, I'm not going to throw the ball at the Gronk. Because it didn't matter. If you thought he was going to get an he was going to it didn't matter his stats in the last game was. In 2018, he didn't earn any of it. He had four ways to earn $1.1 million each.

But the max he could get was 3.3. He had four ways to earn $1.1 million. He didn't come close. He needed 70 catches, had 47. He needed 80% play time, had 75. Needed nine TDs, had three.

Needed 1,085 receiving yards, had 682. Had nothing to do with and he met i in my opinion he missed those his incentives because he missed three games in the middle of the season because of a back problem i don't think the patriots put him didn't activate him in the middle of a season when you don't know if you're making the playoffs right all right i could you know like you don't know in the middle of season because of injuries you don't know what's going to happen right in the future so you can't you just doesn't make it's not logical to say that they held them out in the middle of season to prevent him from earning his incentives all right good point and i'll just and final one, final thing. Let's just say he says those things, but the players, the other players in the NFL are acting like they don't, they don't believe could earn $9 million in incentives.

Yep. Okay? In 2017, the number went up to $18.75 million. 2018, $23.75 million. 2019, $18 million. 2020, $22 million. 2021, $33 million. This year, $31 million. million dollars 2021 33 million dollars this year 31 million dollars if the other plate

pages other players in the nfl believe the patriots we're going to hold them back from earnings and why are they now signing incentive-laden deals and then i'll say this why would you why if grunt believed that why when 2017 would you sign an incendiary deal while in 2018 when you sign a zentalium deal okay it's you're right you're absolutely right and this is where and this is where either a joke or however it was intended i mean and i i can't speak for rob's intentions because i don't know it was a joke it could have been very and very well could have been afterwards i shouldn't have said it yeah i shouldn't have said that it was probably a joke maybe you know at the expense again buying into the national narrative about bill being cheap and things of that nature and always a step ahead

and you know bill is gonna you know squeeze whatever he can i mean that seems to be like the national mo when it comes to uh to him but bottom line i think when you look at what the patriots do and we've seen several examples of them trying to help their players achieve these incentives or if you're falling that far short, and I'm glad that you mentioned some of the statistics in terms of where you needed to be as opposed to where you were at the time, I think it really does. It lends into that narrative where, well,

maybe it's not the last game of the season that defines when you're going to earn those incentives or whatnot. It has to be over the course of a full year. Yeah, because I know with Julian Allen, the year he got suspended, he didn't get some of his incentives. Whose fault was that? Yeah.

Whose fault was that? It was like, all right. Absolutely, yeah. It's not the Patriots' fault. I know we could tell by their actions, they didn't do anything to reduce his salary like they did with Tom Brady and Rob Nikovich. So you can tell by their actions that the

Patriots were unhappy with Julian Ellman being suspended. So they didn't help him out salary-wise like they did Brady and Nikovich. So I was not expecting, as someone who does his tracks and how Patriots plays

on their way to earn incentives, I do this on a weekly basis during the season i was not expecting as someone who does this tracks incentive how pictures page plays a track or on their way to earn incentives i do this on a weekly basis during the season mike all right i never expected that the patients could go out of the way to give julian edelman his incentives during that year all right because i knew that they didn't help him out with a salary so i knew they weren't gonna do anything i was not expecting to do what they did with Wilfork in 2014, keep him on the field. Or in 2004, in a meaningless game in 2004, the Patriots did not need to win the last game of the season.

Right. And they kept Corey Dillon in the game so he can earn a $375,000 rushing yards incentives. He was like 81 yards away from $1,600, 1,600 yards. And they kept him in the game in a meaningless game because they already clinched the one number one seed. They had no reason to play him at all except to have him earn his

incentives. Earn his incentives. Exactly. And there you go. And there's an example of someone who has always spoke lowingly about the patriots even in the uh the years after you know he left uh new england you know cory has always had good things to say about the organization and you have to think that reasons like that are what uh does drive uh those types of comments and those types

of sentiments for all the negatives that we hear it's nice to hear the positives mixed in as well and to see that so but what can i say you set the record straight you knock it out of the park every single time i set you up you always always hit it out of the park like i said folks the pats cap top gun is right here on blocked on patriots with me today and i could not be happier to welcome him and to provide him with a platform uh that so many are you know providing with now. And I could not be happier for that. But before I let you go today, please let everyone know not just where they can interact with you, because not only are you one of the great Twitter follows in any aspect of

the Twitterverse, I know most of our followers or most of our listeners are following you already, but what they can look forward to in terms of your coverage of the draft of continued free agency and also anything else that you'd like to bring up, because I know the phenomenal work that you do in the community is something that to me is greater than what you do for all of us here in New England. When it comes to keeping us up with Patriots finances, what you do in the community is truly the remarkable work that I'm so proud to say that I know you for. The floor is yours, my friend. Please take

us home with anything you'd like our listeners to know here today. I'm going to just keep on tweeting out stuff. This month has been kind of slow. I said this, I wasn't expecting a lot of transactions right before the draft. I will be surprised, folks folks if the patriots make any moves this week

okay this next week give me a month all right um if they make a move i wouldn't be surprised if they make a move before the draft to trade a player or to acquire another draft pick. But we'll see. I mean, right before the draft. After the draft, I'll be banging out, you know, trying to keep track of the undrafted free agents. They're going to sign deals it's gonna have very little impact on on the cap because it's only gonna be so the signing bonus per ration if any

will hit who will hit the cap so they might like for example let's just say john doe gets you hear that he gets 150 150 000 guaranteed for the patriots right right and ten thousand dollars is a is a signing bonus the 140 000 guaranteed salary is not gonna hit the patriots right right and ten thousand dollars is a signing bonus the hundred forty thousand dollar guaranteed salary is not gonna hit the cap right away right right just think about the sign divide that ten thousand by three all right um i'll be doing doing that i did some um hopefully you might have gotten something if you donated in the past i haven't have it out of humanity you might have gotten a mailing you donated in the past. I haven't had it out of humanity. You might have gotten a mailing. I helped with that mailing.

I didn't autograph those because, but that's what I'm doing right now. I'm going to spend more time doing that during the summer months as they have builds. I'll be out there. So if you live in the Connecticut area and you want to help build a house, I hope to see you there. Absolutely. Because I'm not handy.

I need as much help as possible. I'm not handy at all, folks. Well, he can financially give you the wherewithal to be able to build that house but in terms of the uh the efforts there uh I'm sure he's a lot better than he gives himself credit for I'm gonna like pick it up and move it over there I'm a good like mover guy I'm not hey you know what the mover guys are the guys that we need you know that's it they're all every every effort every hand in the pot definitely helps to make the meal as far as I'm concerned. And my friend, what can I say?

You know, the great work that you do to further that cause. Check out Miguel's Twitter feed, folks, at Patscap. All the Habitat for Humanity work that he does, including donation links, things of that nature if you want to get involved. Miguel's got all of the information right there for you. Especially if you're a youth, a young person, they're going to have a conference at the end of this month. And I'm between the adults. If you live in Connecticut and you want to join in and you're a young person,

you should do that now. Absolutely. And again, folks, I could not recommend it highly enough, and I cannot give this man enough praise for doing what he does for the community. So thank you, Miguel, for helping to make our community a better keeping track of the salary cap with the draft just less than two weeks away now and finally the next wave of free agency coming up. You're definitely going to want to stay tuned to all of the great work that he does. In the meantime, thank you very much for spending part of your week here with us on Locked On Patriots and for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England

Patriots coverage. Thanks once again for making us your first listen every day. Download, subscribe to, and follow the Locked On Patriots podcast on platforms such as Spotify, the Odyssey app, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. Stay locked into Locked On Patriots and smash that subscribe button to us on YouTube. On behalf of my good friend Miguel, the Patscap Benzon,

I'm Mike DeBate. Stay safe, folks. Stay well. Have a great holiday weekend, and we'll see you again here on Monday right on Locked on Patriots. Thank you once again.