Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Salary Cap Report: Free Agency, NFL Draft, Cap Space and More w/ Miguel Benzan

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

With the start of the league year fast approaching, the New England Patriots are well-positioned in both 2024 NFL Draft capital and salary cap space. Joining the show to discuss the Pats cap space number, the chances of re-signing their internal free agents and to outline a “Mock Offseason” is Patriots salary cap expert Miguel “PatsCap”Benzan. Miguel and host Mike D’Abate take an in-depth look at the Pats offseason options, only to be found on Locked On Patriots. #NFL #Patriots #salarycap 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 — @mdabateNFLSupport 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 eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.NissanOur friends at Nissan have a lineup of SUV’s with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level. Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelGet buckets with your first bet on FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONU MikeS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your bet wins! 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 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

contracts, franchise tags, veterans getting released. Now, that's right, Pats fans. It is that time of year, so stick around and stay locked in to this Foxborough Finance episode of 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 Lockdown Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and also your first listen each and every day. Remember, Lockdown Patriots is not only a proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,

your team every day. We are also free and available on all platforms, so make sure to smash that subscribe button on YouTube and download and follow wherever you get your podcasts to ensure that you get the latest episode as soon as it's available. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated, so reach out to me and let me know what's on your mind on X at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L.

While you're out there showing some love to Lockdown Patriots social media style, please be sure to follow our account there as well at LO underscore Patriots. And today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any $5 winning bet. That's $150 if your bet wins. Visit fanduel.com slash locked on to get started. And Pats fans, I know that the Patriots financial health, it's been on your mind for a while now. How much cap space is the team going to have?

How much are they willing to spend? Well, fortunately for us today on the pod, we have the man with the answers. The Pats cap himself, my good friend Miguel Ben Benzon is going to join us in just a second. And not only is Miguel here to set the record straight on all things, Foxborough finance, as he always does, he's even going to give you the chance to play Pats cap. Yeah. I'm going to let him give you the details on that one because today's show is so full of wisdom and counsel. Folks, we almost had to build a bigger studio.

And with that, I give you the insight and the fiscal magic of the great and powerful Wizard of Benz on. Pats fans, it is that time of year once again. Your New England Patriots are getting ready to start a new league year. And they're already making moves to try to improve their fiscal health. Well, if we're talking finance, you know we're going to talk Foxborough finance. And who better to lead us in that discussion than the man I like to call the pharaoh of Foxborough finance. Miguel Benzon joins me today. Miguel, thank you so much for coming here and lending your wisdom and counsel the way only you can

to Lockdown Patriots. Oh, it's always a pleasure and honor to be on your show, Mike. I love listening to you. It's just awesome. I just like being there. It's so good for my ego.

Well, it's definitely good for our show, and we enjoy having you here just as much as you enjoy being here, and we thank you for always keeping Locked On Patriots in your purview of the rotations that you make and providing all the wisdom and counsel, especially when it comes to Foxborough Finance, the Patriots Nation. Folks, he is one of the best Twitter follows you'll find anywhere in New England. Definitely follow him at Patscap. And Miguel, the Patriots are already busy. nation folks he is one of the best twitter follows you'll find anywhere in new england definitely follow him at pat's cap and miguel the patriots are already busy they're already hard at work

trying to craft the team a lot of new faces in foxborough and that's going to trickle down to the roster patriots are already making roster moves in advance of the league year beginning in early march we saw lawrence guy as a salary cap casualty be cut earlier this week. Something that's very near and dear to my heart, a very difficult time for me, folks. Adrian Phillips no longer in the Wingman Patriot. We saw this one coming. Definite cap savings in mind with these two moves.

You have the Patriots projected right now at $74.5 million in cap space when league year begins my question to you is how do the patriots arrive at that number and what types of moves are still out there to be made in order for the patriots to not only operate efficiently but also operate at a high level when it comes to luring free agents here to box okay so mike asked me how do i get to that mine 74.5 million dollars number all right cap space number that's the just difference between their adjusted cap number and the cap commitments plus the dead money as you can see on screen folks right they carried over 22 317 from from last last year. I project that they're going to have a positive adjustment of $10.7 million because they had so many players not likely to be earned incentives and not earned the likely to be earned active roster bonuses. And they have some gathering guaranteed salary

offsets for example brian hoyer all right so that's why they're going to have the league their projected just cash number is going to be close to 10.7 million dollars more than the official league cap number i'm currently using 242.5 million dollars we've heard recently the reports of it may go up to 250. all right so if it goes up to 250 then my number would go up around 7.3 million dollars and not why not 7.5 million dollars because uh two players Romani Stevenson and Marco Wilson, their salaries are dependent on how much the 24 cap is, the increase, excuse me, over the 24 cap, over the 23 cap, because they increased their salaries by earning the proven performance escalator. All right. So no matter, they're going to get a bump up.

And that's one of the big reasons why my number is different from the other sites. The other sites haven't yet accounted for the PPE. Once they do, their cash base will kind of match up with mine. Well, until they put in the $10.7 million. Okay. All right. So that's how I explain it out um mike all right um if we bring up the mock off season tab how peaches could create more cap space all

right so literally i um if you could see in forget E&F. It talks about the cuts, all right? So if they were to cut these players, all right, and I put them in alphabetical orders, and the number on the right-hand side is how much cap space they would create. And the next column, a couple of hours, you see the same players, and this is for if they get traded. Most of the time, those numbers, the cap savings is the same But if they have guaranteed Salary like Chris

Board does, then There would be a difference because the guaranteed salary Would, the Patriots would be Off the hook of paying the guaranteed salary And go to the players new team Alright, okay And folks, I'll just say this right now Just a reminder

If you donate Any money to the Harvard Habitat for Humanity in the next couple of days, all right, and you show me it that you donate money, let's make it at least $21. Let's make it a donation of at least $20, okay? I will send you this workbook that's in the mic okay so you can then play around and have your own patriots mock-off season all right because mike can't show you what the worksheet can do all right for example in where i have Calvin Ridley. It says Calvin Ridley, $13 million in the starting income.

There's going to be a drop down there. I have other players listed in there. He's my choice for WR1. You'll see that for adult choices, my choice for TE1. When you. And you'll see that for adult choices. My choice for TE1. When you get the workbook, those fields will be blank and you can pick who you want. And you'll have the cap numbers.

This will be the first year cap numbers. It's not going to be the API. It's not how much cash they get. It's what I think their 2024 cap number will be. All right. Okay. So they have, you can see, Mike, and you can see in the cuts column, they have many ways to create

the cap space. All right? Then, obviously, I put on everyone. All right? So they're obviously not cutting Christian Gonzalez. Okay? Okay. So if they did, they would lose $9.7 million in cap space. All right.

All right. But, um, strange is looking pretty, uh, pretty good there too. That's about a $5 million loss. So I think Christian and Cole are pretty well,

pretty well locked to make this team next year. Yeah. So, so, but like for Devante Parker, right. The question then for the Patriots is, are you willing to lose $650,000 in cap space? Devante Parker. The question then for the Patriots is,

are you willing to lose $650,000 in cap space? And off chance someone will sign him and then you get a credit for whatever cash he gets in 2024, you'll get the credit in 2025. That's something for them to think about. Because when you have this much cap space, Mike, I, you can afford to have a big,

you can, you can afford to have big money, total dead money. That's fans. I know that you are mesmerized by Miguel's cap wisdom. And the good news folks is he isn't even close to being done yet. When we return here on locked on Patriots, Miguel is going to continue to prognosticate

the Patriots' path to prosperity and give you the financial blueprint to do it. All this and more when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. This next segment is brought to you by our sponsor, BetterHelp. And folks, sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off our chest. Whether it's big or small, certain things

can really start to get to you. It's important to let that out, especially to someone who's unbiased on your life. So today, I want to say how I really feel about something, and you may even be thinking about the same thing this week too. As Patriots fans, we're all excited for a new era here in Foxborough, a new head coach in Gerard Mayo, a brand new coaching staff, and hopefully the start of a new championship run. But I know there's also a bit of melancholy out there. Phil Belichick is no longer the head coach. Matthew Slater is officially retired. And it just feels like the glory days in New England are slipping away. You're conflicted,

and it's understandable to be overwhelmed by your feelings. Well, the same concept is true with all of life's circumstances. And therapy can help. Therapy can be different for everyone. And let's face it, most of us have bigger problems than our favorite sports team. And it's important to get things off your chest every once in a while. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be flexible, and suited to your schedule. Visit BetterHelp.com to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com.

Pats fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On, Patriots. And without further ado, we return you to the pharaoh of Foxborough finance as he continues to take a crystal ball style look at the Patriots plans for 2024. So they have the ways and I don't like they have several ways that they can get up to like, you know, I'm already I have on the thing. I have JC Jackson. I'm really think he's gone. All right. And then you can see that I presuming that Mac Jones gets traded. But if I wanted to, Mike, I could get up to $90 million in cap space easy, and especially if it goes up to $250 million. The Patriots get to $95 million with two things.

JC Jackson getting released, and they announced the lead cap number at $250 million. The Patriots gets up to $ million dollars in cap space all right that's okay and then you if you have 95 million dollars in cap space you can pretty much do anything you want in terms especially if you structure the deals with a low cap number in year one which year one being 2024. All right? I don't know. We don't know.

One of the things I'm looking forward to, Mike, is trying to find out how the Patriots are going to structure the deals. Are they going to do it different? And what I mean by that, folks, is that a Patriots contract typically has, for a veteran, active roster bonuses. All right? Most of the time they have incentives. Most of the time the player gets a signing bonus

and a low salary year one, maybe in year two, and a high salary in the later years of the contract, years three and four and five, all right? We will see how they do that. Will they go more? Will they continue to do that? I don't know. I'm looking forward to finding out.

The two cuts that they did make did not surprise me at all. So I can't read anything into the Patriots front office from that. Because if you follow me on Twitter, you know I've been saying that I didn't think Adrian Fields would be on this roster for a long time. And I thought – I didn't think – and I said this, I tweeted it out, that I don't think that Lawrence Guy was going to be on the –

both Lawrence Guy and Devon Garchow would be on the roster at the same time. I thought one of them for sure would go. All right? I think now it's Lawrence Guy. We know it's Lawrence Guy. Now the question then becomes with Devon Garchow. You can see, like, here that either way, if you cut him or you trade him, you create $7.5 million in cap space.

Now, if you want to, the interesting thing about Garchon, and you'll see that on my off-season plan, I'm trying to sign Christian Wilkins, all right? And I'm also willing to do that, and I should have had this in the thing. It's like if I'm signing Christian Wilkins, I'm not disrespecting Christian Balmore. So whatever defensive tackle, I would also try to extend him and get him extended too. I should have had that in the offseason plan, but I ran out of time.

Because I started doing this, Mike, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, they got so much cap space. I really can account for this spot, this spot. I pretty much, like you see, if we want to talk about the offseason plan, I fill up my RB2 spot with Ezekiel Elliott. The second round spot is me filling out the left tackle spot, all right? Calvin really fills out my WR1 spot, my wide receiver one. Dalton Schultz and Adam Prattman fill out my two tight end spots.

I'm definitely signing Farrell Brown, but his deal is so small, I didn't feel like pulling it up there, right? Okay. Michael Wano is my right tackle. Jacoby Percet is my QB2. I'm re-signing Cal Duggar, so I have my safety. Christian Wilkins, I'm going to double up on my defensive tackles. I'm signing him, and I'm going to try to extend Christian far more.

All right. Defensive tackles, I'm signing him, and I'm going to try to extend Christian far more. My QB1, that odd number, is the current draft slot. If you drafted a player in the third overall pick, that would be his 2024 cap number. So I'm thinking wherever it is, it's Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, or Drake May. Whoever it is that's in there, that's my QB1. All right? Shabi, Murph, I know he's big time into Joe Alt. I just think you've got to pick the QB1 this year. All right.

All right. So, folks, when you get this workbook, Yeah. All right. All right. All right. So that's what. So, folks, like when you get this workbook, you'll see you should be able if you know Excel a little bit, you should be able to copy the formulas. And you'll see I have RB2s and LTs and you can't see it on the screen. But I also have on the right some other positions, all right, in there. And the numbers you see is, once again, the 2024 cap number. It's not the APY. It's not how much cash they're going to get in 2024.

It's just the 2024 cap number, all right? If you wanted to cut more people than JC Jackson, that total would change. And you see in my offseason plan, Mike, I end up with about $16.3 million. And I wanted to end with that, around that number. Why? Because that's around how much cap space if it's used from the start of training camp to the end of the of the 23 league year. And that was remember they had a lot of players going IR. All right. So so they had a ridiculous amount. So that gives that if we do. I have that for a cushion. All right?

And then I'll, so if they have better health, they'll have more cap space to acquire someone at the trade deadline. All right? Okay. Now, so I think that's my off-season plan. I didn't want to go into trying to fill in the entire 53 man roster because we would be here all night. I just want to go big picture. Because imagine if we did all 53 spots, Mike. There isn't enough water.

Probably not. I mean, Gerard Mayo kind of alluded to that on Wednesday when he talked about the long process now ahead of building the roster and getting together with elliot wolf and matt grow and kind of going through the draft process the free agent process they're talking a month they're talking months long processes here that are going to be happening miguel almost tackled this in one night folks keep that in mind next time you wonder you know it took me a while to come up with these numbers yeah one that you're talking semantics here man i mean look at the work that you've done over here i mean the new england patriots roster and miguel's

hands looking pretty good right now folks on that tab if you should get that and i can definitely tell you not only does it go to a worthy cause but but Miguel's work that he's done here is phenomenal. You're going to have a lot of fun playing with this. I know I did. And, you know, with guys like Ridley and Schultz and Trotman and kind of plugging in what he did and giving you an opportunity to see how these numbers can be adjusted in real time using Excel cells and spreadsheets and formulas. It really is remarkable, man. I love what you've done here. This is a lot of fun.

Thank you. Thank you. It was fun to do, and I'm like, oh, my gosh. They have a lot of cap space. if it goes up to 250, right, the league – the teams won't adjust how much they're paying until the second – until 2025. Like, this is the year to get players on a bargain because if they – because no one knows what next year's cap number is going to be. All right?

So if it went up to $250 million, it looked good. And that's about $25 million. If it continues to go up, if the plans keep on going up $20 million, $25 million a year, oh, good lord. You're going to see prices go up big time. All right. So, yeah, let's just talk about a couple of deals for the players. Hopefully they resign because I don't know how they don't. Like literally then like Mike, like the whole Murph thing about drafting DeWalt, it becomes like essential if they don't resign Mike O'Hanlon.

Absolutely. All right. Or you have to go with maybe like a Jonah Williams for left tackle or right tackle, someone else, right? So at the end of the day, I'm giving him $17 million. And some people, I've heard people on some podcasts, like $13.5 million. I'm like, if he was going to sign for $13.5 million, he would have already signed. Right. That's what I'm thinking. So glad that you said that.

Because that is a common question I get an awful lot, is what are the amounts that the patriots might discuss why hasn't michael wayne who've been extended yet why haven't they prioritized this a little bit more and i think folks miguel has laid this out very well this is all meticulously uh you know worked out in terms of what he projects will be the deal or could be the deal with a 17 million annual per year average but at the same time you have to get to that happy medium the patriots are not going to automatically go there michael wayne who is not going to automatically back off they want to reach that

accord 13 and a half million is just not enough to get it done not with what he could get on the open market he knows his value he realizes that he can not only go to a team and revolutionize the way that they play the tackle position but he can also be a very effective guard that's his natural position so he knows his value he's going to go out there and he's going to get it patriots are going to have to pay for it if they want it right because let's let's say the the league cap number is 250 and i like that number just because it's a round number. That's an 11% increase from 2023. So if you say, hey,

this guy got this deal in 2023 and Michael Allen is the same, but you got to give him 11% more just to match the cap. And folks, that happens. That really happens. All right? That the ages will try to match the cap. And folks, that happens, that really happens, all right?

That the agents will try to match the increase in the cap, all right? So people say, well, he doesn't deserve $17 million, all right? Well, that's because we're all used to thinking of the past, what happened in the past, where $17 million is now, might be the same percentage of a $13.5 million deal of a play you're thinking about in the past, because the cap was small then.

All right? I don't think, like, I'll be pleasantly surprised. I don't mind being wrong, but if he signs for $13.5 million, I'm wondering why it wasn't done last year. That's a fair question. Yeah. Because the top of the market, Mike, is like over $20 million.

Right. Even if you say right tackle versus left tackle. Elton Jenkins, who's as versatile as Michael Wano is, he got a deal, and I'm just, I just did that 17 minutes, I just increased for the, I just for the cap, all right, I'm just trying to, like, my incentives, same incentives as Jenkins, all right, and I'm saying, if you put him at guide, then you're paying him as an elite guy,

if you put him at right tackle, then you're painting him as a good right tackle. Folks, let's realize who's going to be out there in free agency at the tackle spot. By now, you've probably seen the list. Two of the top five offensive free agent tackles are Trent Brown and Michael Warnham. This is not the year to try to get one in free agency. It's actually hardly ever... Oh, let's see.

Getting an offensive tackle, a good one, in free agency is not as easy as getting a wide receiver or a cornerback or safety. It's just, or I mean, like, you know, good quarterbacks,

great quarterbacks never hit free agency, all right? If you're a great tackle, it's likely that you're not going to hit free agency. It's more likely you can't work out a deal. You can probably get traded, okay? So they can get like a first-round pick for you. Pets fans, Miguel has broken the wisdom and counsel meter, as you can all see and have heard all throughout this episode.

But there is still more insight to come. When we continue in a segment unique to Locked On Patriots, Miguel is going to set the record straight on all of those erroneous cat myths that are flowing around out there and still causing him some difficulty in giving you the most accurate salary cap information when it comes to your New England Patriots. Miguel takes us there. And this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast wraps up right here on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

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Pats fans, as always, thank you for choosing Locked On Patriots as part of your daily New England Patriots coverage. And Miguel Benzon, the Pats cap himself, has more than delivered the goods here today but he's ready to set the record straight so let's get back to the action as the great and powerful wizard of Benzon takes us back home I also hope they extend Kyle Duggar well as long as we're talking about Duggar I know you've done a little bit of work on him because he's obviously if Michael Wayne who is priority one for the New England Patriots internally in terms of free agents,

Kyle Duggar is going to be definitely close on that list. What are the prospects of bringing Duggar back? See, he's an older person, Mike. So this is his best chance to get a big money deal. All right. So the question I run into is like if they can't reach a deal with him, they can afford with having so much cap space to have him at the tag number. And then when he's 29 years old, then he hits free agency. So he has that to think about.

Does he want to hit free agency at the age of 29? Or does he want to take a deal that's maybe not as good as he thinks he should get? But he has some long-term security because any deal he signs in 2024

is going to guarantee he'll be on the roster in 2024, guarantee he's going to be on the roster in 2025, there's a good chance he's going'll be on the roster in 2024, guarantee he's going to be on the roster in 2025, and there's a good chance he's going to be on the roster in 2026, at least in the beginning part. Or he's going to definitely have the chance to, if he's not on the roster in 2026, he's probably going to be in the early part of the offseason

so he can get on with another team. Fascinating stuff. And again, when it comes to duggar you have to weigh all of the possibilities you have to weigh every and you have to take a look at all the angles the emergence of someone like a jabril peppers has definitely caused at least the patriots to have to think about this a little bit more because now if you decide that you want to let kyle duggar test free agent waters and they don't decide to use the franchise tag on him. If that is indeed the case, now all of a sudden you talk about maybe using Marte Mapu in that role

and not taking him out of a linebacker role, using him as a safety. I happen to think he's a much better fit on this roster as a linebacker rather than a pure safety, but the Patriots may have that option. And then you may go the draft route and see what's out there as well. And there are, you know, players that can be had for the Pats with the draft capital that they have and maybe the early to mid to later rounds. So all of these factors factor in folks, but you're wondering how the Patriots make it work financially. I think, again, Miguel has laid out a masterclass here so far in internal free agents and a mock offseason that, again, to me is second to none.

Thank you. So actually, we should talk about the 2024 FAs. I had it sorted by the type and then the snaps and then the age. All right. Mike, so is there anything, any play here that you think I might be wrong on? All right. So let's take a look at what Miguel has done here, folks. Obviously, he's got Kyle Duggar, Michael Wainu, Miles Bryant, Hunter Henry,

Anthony Jenning Stain. Yeah, I'm pretty well good with that. I think pretty much anything else right now is just gravy. No, I'm kidding, folks. But no, bottom line so far, I think he makes a good point. Look, Hunter Henry is probably going to be the linchpin in this. If the Patriots decide that job that he did as a captain this year is going to be necessary in order to move this team forward on the field, then I think they're wise to keep him in Foxborough. He has ties to the area now.

He knows the team. He knows the situations. He knows a lot of these players, and the players did look up to him in the locker room. I can tell you he was a very well-respected team captain, so I do believe that Hunter Henry will stick around. I hope we're right in this case, but I also see the argument for going against it because he may command a pretty good amount on the open market. The Patriots may know that, not be willing to match it. And maybe they do go with someone like a Dalton Schultz, who probably will command about the same type of money annually, but maybe not just for as long as Hunter is looking. Hunter's getting up there now as, you know, you can see 29, maybe his last opportunity to cash in with a big deal.

He may want to take advantage of that. Unfortunately, I think you're absolutely right on Josh Uche. I think he's going to find greener pastures elsewhere. I think the Patriots know that, and I think that's why you're going to see him move on. One that I do look at and say I think has a 50-50 chance of happening is Zeke Elliott. I think Zeke definitely loved playing here. I think he enjoyed his time in New England. I think he would be open to it, but I think he proved last year that not only is he capable of being a goal line or a red zone threat and really a capable receiver out of the backfield in those situations, he can still run the ball between the tackles. And because of that, I think there may be a team out there, who knows, maybe an NFC team

that knows him and knows his capabilities from the years of playing in Dallas that might be willing to pay him a little more than New England is going to so that's the one right now that I'm a little on the fence with I think you're well on the mark with all of these I see the Patriots retaining Kendrick Bourne and everything he brings to the table I think it's important to keep him here Mack Wilson is someone I think who had a very impressive 2023 I think if anything this week, earlier this week taught us is that Trent Brown has probably played his final down in New England. I think it's probably best for all sides that that is indeed the case. So once

again, Miguel, I think you've knocked it out of the park. I don't see any problems here at all. Okay. So I should say to people, why do I think that Therese hall is going to leave all right the page's history is that one of the players spends the first couple years on the nfl on ir or nay he has a chance to become a free agent they don't they don't send him home again um so i used i switched my mind on trey nixon all right okay i used to think he was staying because he was Ernie's last pick, but now I think Pastor tells me that he's going to leave because that's what they've done in the past.

If I'm wrong, it doesn't really matter because his salary is so low, it's not going to change my cap number at all. The only one out of the ERFA if I'm wrong about that changes my cabinet will be christian ellis because his salary is 985 000 all the other guys have a salary

lower than that they wouldn't be in the top 51 all right um and they have i mean really they they because of what they've done and the retirements are ready, they have a smaller list than some teams, all right? All right. Yeah. So, okay. So I don't know. We'll see what happens.

It's going to be interesting to say this, Mike. It's going to be – I'm looking forward to it, Mike, but I want to see the deals, the structure of the deals more than anything else. Yeah, and I think that's such a good point to make. And you kind of made this point a little bit the last time that you came here and you sat with us and gave your wisdom and counsel to Lockdown Patriots about the difference in philosophy.

Now that Bill Belichick is not running the show and he's not commanding that front office and structuring the deals and working, you know, with, with players, this is now in the hands of, it looks like Elliot Wolfe is going to be probably the alpha in the room when it comes to negotiating free agent deals. Although I'm sure Matt grow is former director of player of personnel is going to have his input. Gerard Mayo is going to have his input. Gerard

Mayo is going to have his hands in this as well. There's going to be a lot of notable guys in the room that are going to know how to get players here and convince them that New England is the spot for them. The way you do that is obviously sell them on the team, sell them on the personnel, sell them on the head coach, but it's about the checkbook. It's about writing those numbers. It's about showing your appreciation or showing your desire to have them in Patriot Blue by doling out the contracts. And that's exactly what Miguel has shown us here, whether it's internal free agents, external free agents,

or having a little fun at the expense of a mock-off season. This is not Foxborough Finance 101 anymore, folks. This is an advanced masterclass that this man just gave you tonight. In terms of what Miguel has done here, folks, again, not only are you donating to a worthy and a great cause, but you're also getting the opportunity to play Patriots GM. Who better to give you that wisdom, that counsel, and that ability than the guy, in my opinion, that should be running the whole show up in Foxborough. I don't

say that with any hesitation. He should be because he's always right. He's always on the money. And folks, I think he proved that again tonight with some of his projections. Thank you. Thank you. And I should say this. If I don't... I'm probably giving away a secret to you. All right.

Someone's going to find out who's signing the contracts. I knew in the past it was Matt Crowe. Is he still signing the contracts? We'll find out. We will. We absolutely will find out. If he's not

signing the contracts now, you know that's a big sign for me. Exactly. A little mystery coming out of Foxborough, but you know what? No mysteries wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma here on Locked On Patriots. We got the super sleuth right here, folks. That's another name I'm going to tag on to you, my friend. We got Pharaoh of Foxborough Finance. We got super sleuth. We got Patriots salary cap top gun. Folks, he wears them all well. What can I say? The title that I value most about you is a great friend. And you have been for a number of years from the time that I started covering the new England Patriots to the very present day, Miguel has been such a support to me, to locked on Patriots.

And no matter where I did my writing, whether it be cover 32 to full press coverage, to sports illustrated, to fan nation, he's followed me along all of that time. And he's continued to be a value friend. I've always said that any salary cap question or finance-related matter I need help on, I go directly to Miguel.

I do not have a second, third, or fourth source. He's the only one I need. And frankly, he's the only one I think anyone in Patriots Nation needs to listen to. But thank you so much for joining me here today. Before I let you go, it's a Foxborough finance tradition. Are there any of those erroneous salary cap myths out there that you've been dying to set the record straight on? Please let us know. How do I say this politely?

Folks, I have a full-time job. I'm not going to be the first person to report on the cap savings of a cut. I won't be because I have a job during the day. The cut happens during the day. But I'll tell you this. I'll be the most accurate report of the cut. and you can see that with the two cuts that just happened people kept on saying six million dollars oh um one reason and i have is 5.17 million dollars why one one reason for the difference is they weren't accounting for the top 51 effect. Another reason was they didn't account for Lauren's guy actually having a higher cap number.

They were looking at a website that had him with a lower cap number because they didn't account for his incentives. So the fact that he got cut eliminates the difference, one of the differences to me and the other sites um i so that's just just keeping in mind that that the top 51 all right when you hit think about the guys because i seen uh saw someone say you could cut a player who had like a $1.3 million cap in and get $1.3 million cap savings. That's not true, all right? Because a rookie is going to replace him or somebody making $795,000. That's why a rookie gets paid this year. A guy with one year in the NFL is getting paid $915, 000 all right so some that one of those players is gonna replace him so you're not saving one point million 1.3 million dollars i think they

could do person referred to jamal hasty all right you're not saving 1.3 million dollars you're saving the difference between him and the guy who replaces him. And that's the biggest thing I wish the media did a better job of explaining. And then let's not even talk about the franchise tag and the 120% rule. All right? Yeah, folks. I don't... It's been around forever.

All right? It's not like a math thing. It's been in the rulebook forever. Stop saying that Hunter Henry's tag number is $12 million. It's 18.6. All right? And that's because there's a 20% rule. The NFL

PA, as bad as a union it is, did not agree to take, for the player would have to take a pay cut if they got a franchise tag. And that's, I mean, I'm going to just gonna say logical would tell you that it wouldn't happen that you would read to a pay cut as you got franchise tag yet people would at least three beat writers and set it oh my social ifs you asked me to i want to be ended in a positive note but that's just i'm i know i'm a cap geek

but literally that's their job that's what they get paid to i do this as a hobby all right um and for them to put it out there it's just just... Oh, my gosh. It was just annoying. I'll just say this. In the next couple of days, you're going to hear that Player X got a four-year $50 million deal. That's 12.5.

He averaged out to 12.5 million. That doesn't mean in 2024 his cap number is that. Also, that deal could be fucked up. Remember, the most times you hear about these deals come from the agent. They want to present those numbers as big as possible to help them recruit

other players. Folks, we're like Michael Lombardi says, we're in the lying time. Those first deals, you hear those first reports, oh my gosh, they will pay for the guy. Wait for the numbers to really come in. Most of the time you'll find it's a much smaller deal.

I think we all learned that the hard way in 2021 when the Patriots broke out the checkbook for the first time in a long while and they were signing some of those monster deals. Miguel was one of the first, and he kept beating that drum. And I was beating the drum along with him because, again, he's educated me so much on this. Starting off as an older rookie beat writer a few years ago and trying to learn the nuances of the salary cap, without this man's guidance, it would have been very, very difficult, especially when it comes to things like the 120% rule and, of course, knowing the difference between the reported numbers

and the actual numbers. Miguel, you walk that tightrope and you walk it very well. And thank you once again for setting the record straight here on Locked On Patriots. Thanks for providing all of us with a lot of fun in terms of thinking about what the Patriots might do or might not do. Don't forget, folks, visit Miguel's Twitter page, at Patscap.

You can get the link right there. The work that this man does for Habitat for Humanity is so inspiring. Always work tirelessly to try to make the dream of someone getting their own home a reality. And I can't think of a better cause. I can't think of a better way to support what he does than to buy into a little Foxborough finance fund for yourself

and try to build your own roster and be able to do it with some of the great stuff that he's laid out here today. All right. $20. Send me a DM. Show me the receipts. And I'll send you the same workbook I sent Mike. All right? All right.

I will actually, in between now and the weekend i'll keep i'm gonna add more and more positions i just went with the positions i thought they would address phd right away i did not put all the positions on that workbook because i'm like they like they i didn't go deep in the cornerback position because I think they're deep there. Absolutely. If you want to go deep, I'm going to add some more players in the cornerback position. God bless everyone, and good luck, and thank you for any donations.

I appreciate any donation. Folks, I know we were 4-4. We? I didn't play. One snap. They were 4-4-13 last year. We'll see what happens this year. I mean, the thing for me, Mike, I have why shouldn't I be optimistic?

Why shouldn't I be not? Everyone's 0-0 right now. Absolutely. It's a new year, a new dawn, a new day. If you have any questions about Foxborough Finance, refer to this show. Refer to Miguel's Twitter page, most importantly, because all the great work that he does is always cleanly outlined there. And what can I say?

He is the salary cap top gun. No plaque for the alternates, bud, because there is no equal. The man is the best of the best. And with that, folks, I thank all of you. All of you everydayers out there and you casual listeners and maybe some of you first timers that are joining us here to absorb Miguel's wisdom and counsel. Thank you for choosing Locked On Patriots today. And we hope you keep coming back for more because we are just scratching the surface.

Draft coverage, mock draft Monday, free agency talk, new coaching staff, all of that and more. We're going to continue to cover that each and every day here. So stay locked in to Locked on Patriots. But in the meantime, on behalf of my good friend, Miguel Benzon, I'm Mike DeBate reminding all of you to stay safe and to stay well and to be the change that you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.

And we'll see you back here again next time on Locked on Patriots.