Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Pats Camp and Pats Cap: Miguel Benzan discusses New England Patriots finances - 7/30/2021

Episode Date: July 31, 2021

The New England Patriots are almost one week into 2021 training camp. However, the finances of the team continue to be a hot topic. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Miguel ‘PatsCap’ Benzan. The duo discuss a potential deal for Stephon Gilmore, the financial logistics of assembling a 53-man roster, and…in a segment unique to Locked On Patriots…Miguel sets the record straight on the various cap myths involving the Pats.Support 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.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. You are now locked into the Lockdown Patriots podcast. It is finally Friday, July 30th, 2021, as we are about to wrap up week one of Patriots 2021 training camp at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked On Patriots podcast, which of course is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, comments, and feedback

are always welcomed and very much appreciated. So share that feedback. Send it to the internet by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATENFL. And while you're out there giving the weekend nod and saying how you doing to the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Patriots fans, your New England Patriots have now taken the field and are almost through week one of 2021 training camp and a ton of storylines to talk about. Cam Newton and Mac Jones continue to

look sharp in their quest to be the starting quarterback for your New England Patriots this season. When it comes to the wideouts, Nelson Aguilar has stood above the rest. Hunter Henry, Jonu Smith, all making significant contributions to the offense. On the defensive side of the ball, the D-line has been stepping up big. Matt Judon not just making a contribution to the linebacking core, but also chipping in on special teams. Folks, the mantra of the New England Patriots is do your job, and each and every guy out there on the field is doing their job.

For complete comprehensive coverage on all three days thus far of training camp, please check out my work for Sports Illustrated Patriot Maven at PatriotMavenSI on Twitter. You'll find my camp observations alongside some interesting stories on players that we, the media,

have had a chance to meet this week. But comprehensive camp coverage is no stranger to Locked On Patriots. And this weekend, in a special Sunday episode of the pod, your questions, comments, and feedback will take center stage. That's right, we're bringing back the mailbag. Not midweek this time, folks. The weekend mailbag.

So keep a sharp eye on the Locked On Patriots account so that way you can send in your camp questions to have them answered right here on Sunday afternoon's episode of Locked on Patriots. But today, for your weekend listening pleasure, we have a special treat for you in the form of the great and powerful Wizard of Benzahn himself. That's right, folks. The Pat's Cap is back to close out the week in style.

My man Miguel is here today as we talk about what a potential deal for Stephon Gilmore might look like, how the Patriots might go ahead and put together a 53-man roster, financial implications folks, and also, last but not least, in a segment that is unique to Locked On Patriots, Miguel will set the record straight and debunk all those various cap myths floating around out there. Folks, he is the best at what he does. The Pat's Cap Top Gun is in the house, and without further ado, I will shortly welcome in my good friend Miguel Benzon for a Foxborough Finance Friday Training Camp Edition when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Locked On listeners, Bilt Bar, the most delicious, healthy protein bar you've ever tried,

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That's right, folks. It's Friday and we're welcoming him in. Today, we seek the wisdom and counsel of the great and powerful Wizard of Benzahn. You know him as the Pats cap. He is my good friend, Miguel Benzahn, and it is my honor to bring his wisdom and counsel back to the podcast today. Welcome back to Locked On, Patriots, Miguel, and thank you for joining me. Oh, it's always a pleasure. I just, I swear, I love, I think I joined the show just to hear the introduction.

I love it. I love it. And you know what? And I love it. And I didn't want to laugh over your laugh because your laugh is much better than mine, I assure it. I love it. And you know what? And I love it. And I didn't want to laugh over your laugh because your, your laugh is much better than mine. I assure you. And no, it always comes from the heart, my friend. It always comes from the soul. Whenever you're on the, the,

the lights are brighter here on the lockdown Patriot studios. And I always appreciate you coming on. It's, I was, it's an honor to talk ball with you. It's an honor to talk Patriots finances with you, but it's an honor to call you a friend. And that's really the most important thing that I can think of. And Miguel, we always have a lot to talk about when you join us here on the show, because finances are a hot topic in New England. And as we speak, according to your calculations, of course, the Patriots having $13,112,279 in available cap space. And even though the Patriots continue to be excited about performances in camp, quarterback battles, whatnot,

Foxborough Finance, again, still very much top of mind here. So if we're being honest, I wouldn't be doing my job unless I led off with a question around the most prominent financial concern on Pats fans' minds right now, and that's Stephon Gilmore's contract. Stephon right now on physically unable to perform. We haven't seen him on the field yet. We are recording this on Thursday night, folks, so it's very possible we might see Stephon walk onto the field on Friday. I don't think it's likely, but it's possible, so bear with us. Right now, at the time we're recording, Stephon Gilmore has not seen action on the field yet. He is still on PUP.

So we know that the contract situation is a hot topic. It's been widely reported that the reason that he was not at mandatory mini camp was because of the contract. Right now, the Patriots and Stephon Gilmore would like to work something out. I think that's obvious. Both sides want some resolution to this matter. And it seems like the best way to do it is for Stephon to agree and the Patriots to agree to either a contract extension or, at the very least, a bump in pay. Miguel, you follow the situation as closely, if not closer, than anyone I know. What is the most likely scenario?

What impact will it have on the Patriots' salary cap this year and potentially into the next about a potential deal for Stephon Gilmore? Alright. I just want to step back a bit and just talk about why Stephon Gilmore wants more money.

He's wildly considered one of the top 10 in the top 10. People say top 5, top 3 cornerbacks in the league. Alright? People say he should just honor his contract. Fair enough. Fair enough.

Fair enough. I'm one of the person who says the players should maximize their deal. He signed a 5-year deal with the Patriots. Since then, folks, how many times has the Patriots assigned a player to a five-year deal? Zero. It appears to me that the Patriots have switched their modus operandi. All right?

They've gone away from longer deals to shorter deals. Every one they signed this year, and they signed over 25 free agents this year, was signed to a four-year deal or shorter. So if you're going to say Gilmore should honor his deal and he should honor a deal that the Patriots are no longer giving out, that's not logical to me. All right? Okay?. That's one thing. The other thing, let's talk about how much he got a pay raise last year.

That's why his salary is so much lower this year. I went up and I looked up and I added the compensation for 2020, for 2021, for these cornerbacks. Jalen Ramsey, Marlon Humphrey, Byron Jones, Tredarius White, James Bradbury, Darius Lake,

William Jackson, Jeff Okada, Marcus Peters, Zavian Howard, Adoree Jackson, Shaquille Griffin, Trey Waynes, Marshawn Lattimore, Denzel Ward, JC Jackson, and Jair Alexander. All right? Where do you think he comes in those? For the 2021, 2020, he comes in like 10th. All right? 10th.

No, excuse me, 11th. Excuse me. 11th out of those players. 11th out of those players. So he's behind Jalen Ramsey, Mylon Humphrey, Byron Jones, and he's not, he's at $22 million. Jalen Ramsey over 2020

and 2021 is going to get $43 million. Darius Slay, alright, who's about a couple years younger than Stephon Gilmore. He's probably the closest one out of these listed players in his age. Alright, is going to make $26 million. Xavier Howard, who didn't play that much in 2019, is going to get $24 million.

He's complaining about his deal. He's going to get $24 million right now scheduled for 2020-2001. Stephon Gomez, 11th. If you're going to tell me, folks, that he's the 11th best cornerback in the league right now, well, you should wear my glasses. You need to wear better glasses. You should get a better subscription. All right?

All right? So that's where we're at right there, and I just wanted to say that because I like to go on Mike's podcast and say something. I know it's something no one said before. And you're probably learning this, and I'm not going to repeat this on Twitter. All right? So I want to share something. This is one of those things I like to have, this podcast-only tidbits.

All right? Okay? All right? So then let's go back there. And then, like, Ben Volan wrote an article saying the Patriots should do something with Stephon Gilmore. I happen to agree that they should do something with Stephon Gilmore, but Ben says you should do it with incentives. Ben did not mention how difficult it is to give a defensive player incentives that are likely to be earned. All right?

Because these are the things you can do. These are the very limited, if you're on offense, you have a ton of way stats that you can get in terms of incentives. For a defensive player, there's interceptions, interception yards, TDs on interception returns, opponents' fumble recoveries, opponents' fumble return yards, TDs on interception returns, opponents fumble recoveries, opponents fumble return yards, TDs on fumble returns, and sacks.

That's it for defensive players. So your quarterback, you have all those categories. Wide receiver, you got some categories about catch and receive and blah, blah, blah. All those. For defensive players, that's it. All right? And you don't even get credit for forcing a fumble. You get more

credit for recovering a fumble. To me, it's a better skill to force a fumble than it is luck to recover the fumble. But that's the way the CBA is. So, if I was managing the Patriots,

I'm glad I'm not, because there's a lot of pressure. There'll be a lot of pressure. I'll keep on the 60-day deal. But, you know, I would try to extend him like they did with trying to match the deal that

Darius Slade got. All right? You could give him like – the Patriots give Stephon Gilmore the same amount of money that Darius Slade got in his first year of the contract and lower his cap number by $3 million. Sure, you would have some dead money in 2023. But by that time, the cap is going to go up. Yeah. All right? So I'm saying we can reach a deal.

I'm going to just give you some – let me just bring it up in front of me. Mike, so I'm talking about a cap number right now. So the cap number will be $13.9 million this year, $16.8 million in 2022, and then $19 million in 2023. All right? But the dead money, if he doesn't play well, it's just $4.3 million. All right? So you lowered his salary to the minimum, which is $1.075 million.

You give him a bonus, he would get $14.05 million, which is the same amount of money that Darius Slade got in his first year of the deal. He would get more money in the second year of the deal than Darius Slade got. In the third year of the deal, he would get a little bit less than Darius Slade got, but it's in the third year. He's also older. See, there's a little bit of compromise. So that's what I would think they do. This idea that the people keep on saying on the radio and in the articles,

just give them incentives. I really wish, and I see, like, they really wish they'd talk about what incentives are you going to give them, all right? Because they could say, I wish to say, give him playing time incentives to start off at 10% because he played in 62% of his snaps last year, so therefore it would be likely to be earned. All right? Or something like, you know, so, but don't say give him incentives

and it's easy to earn incentives when that really isn't easy for him because he's a quarterback. So it's going to be difficult if he plays well, what quarterback is going to throw the ball near him so he's not going to get the chance for interceptions? Alright? And with the much money the Patriots

have put on the front seven this year, how many sacks is he going to really get? You know? And you can't depend on fumble recoveries. You can't depend on he doesn't have the speed to, let's say, even if he intercepted a ball, recover a ball, does he have the speed to break away for 80 yards and return for a touchdown? So that cracks me.

It frustrates me and cracks me. It frustrates me as a cap nerd to read or just give them incentives. time to go out and add a little bit more context to their article and say, hey, these are the things he can do. And they keep on referring to what happened to Brady and Gronk. They don't mention that Brady didn't earn any of his $5 million incentives.

You know what I'm saying? Gilmore had a $2 million incentive last year, didn't earn it. And then Gronk one time earned a $5.5 million incentive because he was an all-pro. All right? But he's an all-pro at a position that has one player. All you got to do is be the best at that position. All right?

The tight ends, how many really great tight ends are you going to see in this league? So he was really competing against very few people to get to the All-Pro. If he just did Gronk, he would most likely be the All-Pro. Gilmore could have a really good year. All right? But there's so many cornerbacks. Two. Each team starts at many cornerbacks. Two. Each team starts at least two.

Maybe three. He's going against 64 people. 63 people. While Gronk was going against 31. You know what I'm saying? And if as much as this team got

much... This Patriots defense got better. So how likely is that he will get the all-pro on this team? All right? All right. So that kind of frustrates me. I think they're going to do something, Mike. I just think, I don't know when,

but I think when you see him on the field, that's an indication they've done something. So, like, he's holding in. He's not holding out. He's holding in. No, you know, I know a lot of, there was a lot of sentiment out there. And look, bottom line, when it comes to Pup, there has to be a medical reason. And we know that Stephon suffered the torn quad.

I laid the seed down just before you started to answer the question. And absolutely, there's always that speculation out there. But the timing is very suspect. And you know that there is something that the Patriots and Stephon are both working on. And hopefully both sides will come to that agreement. I agree with you. I do think that when you see him out on the field that's an indication that something happened folks one way or another uh this matter will get resolved how quickly in camp it will get resolved it's

still anyone's guess but we continue to watch and uh i will continue to watch each and every day as that shoot opens in foxborough and we start with the sharp eye. Thank you very much. Hey, that's my line. No, I'm kidding. I was going to say, you're going to watch with a sharp eye, right? Not bad. Absolutely, yeah. Because I've watched them with four. Folks, it's a flush the format Friday here on Lockdown Patriots. But, no, all kidding aside, but always, always great stuff.

And thank you for enlightening us on the Stephon Gilmore situation, because it can be precarious at times. And I know a lot of Patriots fans are concerned about it. And I think you've lent some wisdom and counsel and maybe a little light on the situation. So hopefully we'll continue to move in that direction. But I did bring you on for another reason today, buddy. Don't worry, folks. We are going to get to setting the record straight. Miguel is ready to go in that direction. But I did bring you on for another reason today, but don't worry, folks,

we are going to get to setting the record straight. Miguel is ready to go in that department. I guarantee you. However, there is a matter of 53 man roster predictions, which, which Miguel, I know you love,

I know you love to do them on your own. We were talking about this before we actually started to record about how Miguel loves doing these 53-man predictions. No, all kidding aside, folks, he really just does not like it. So I took one for the team. I fell on the sword. Thank you. About a month ago today for SI Patriot Maven, I did a 53-man roster prediction.

And for all of the questions about how putting together this 53-man roster is going to work and what the salary cap looks like. Miguel used mine as a template in terms of what this might mean. So have at it, my friend. Let us know what goes into the creation of a 53-man roster, practice squad, whatever, any type of financial tidbits that you'd like to let our listeners know. So when the time does come in late August, early September, and that cut down has to happen,

they get an idea of what the Patriots are going through financially. Okay. So Mike had said to Miguel, asked me, he's like, let's talk about a little preview. Let's do a financial preview of the upcoming season. So what's the best way for me to do it would be to have something online for a 53-man roster.

I personally, Mike's kidding around because I told him I don't like doing them because I never get them right. Okay? So I asked Mike, give me your latest 53-man roster. So I go online, I do it. I copy it down and I keep this 53-man roster. I think go online, I do it. I copy it down, and I keep this 53-man

roster. I think the only change we did is we put Stidham on PUP instead of being on the 53-man roster. Okay. So we got to... I think this team is playoff bound, as it is right now.

So check out... Tomorrow morning I'm going to retweet the link to his 53-man roster. I think this team, if it stays healthy and it's Mike's 53, that team I think is playoff bound. So what goes into a 53-man roster? So right now I'm only counting the salaries of 51 players. So now I've got to count for the salaries of 53 players who are on the active roster.

And I've also got to count for the salary of Jared Stenum, who's on PUP. I've got to count on the salary for Cameron McGroan, who I put on NFI, all right? I'm assuming that he's going to get the split salary. So he's not going to get what rookies make, $660,000. He's going to get a little bit less than that, all right, even in the $400,000 range, all right? So then I go down, so I get some, you know, so we cut some players. So we cut Sonny Michelle.

We cut Joanne Williams. We cut Brandon King. All right? So I get some dead money for those guys, but I also free up, but since we're not paying the salary, that frees up cap space. All right? And then you ask you to put on the 16-man practice squad. All right?

So we got Jake on there. We got Quinn Norton on there. We got Trey Nixon. All right? Those, that 16-man process squad costs close to $3 million, Mike. Because it's 16. After all that, I come up with the Patriots having about $10.4 million in cap space. Which is just, for them, right around the sweet spot,

which should be less. That should, if they take relatively healthy, Mike, if they have it like, if they're not putting, I know this year you can come back on IR after three weeks, right? Right. But if you have a team team has a lot of players on ir that takes up cap space all right and don't forget each each week under the new cba you can elevate two practice squad squad players to the 53 man roster so they get a bump every time you that, those guys get a bump in pay. So they're going from making $9,200

a week, so they want to get promoted, to making $38,000 a week. So they quadruple, more than quadruple their pay by going from the practice squad to going to 53-man roster. All right? Yeah. So those guys want to get elevated, but that takes up space. All right?

And for the Patriots, they have, we've talked about this many times on the show, they have active roster bonuses. They've got several players, close to over 30, but after the cuts, got over 30 players who have actor roster bonuses. And if you're a player who didn't play in all 16 games last year, right, like, for example, and then you play one more game, you're active for one more game than you were last year, that actor roster hits a cap on Tuesday. It's actually the same day, but it's on the NFL PA public salary cap page.

You can usually see it hit on Tuesday. So the Patriots could lose up to $5 million in cap space because if they have every player be active for every game, not to play in the game, they just every player be active for every game, not to play in the game, they should be active for the game. All right? And I'll say this, Week 17, there was no Week 17 last year, no Game 17 last year. All right?

So everybody who has an active roster bonus, that Game 17 is considered not likely to be earned. All right? So that game, the Patriots are going to lose a ton of cap space if everybody's playing. They could lose. I don't have – I didn't track down the players who we cut. But right now on my spreadsheet, I have that week 17 liability

being over $913,000. That's just a crazy amount. Wow. Yeah. So, like, we cut, like you, Brandon King. Like, Brandon King didn't play any games last year, all right? Right. He wasn't active in any games.

But if he was active, he didn't make our roster. But if he was active, the Patriots would lose $17,647 each game he's active. So that's game week one. The Patriots could start losing cap space because of the active roster bonuses. Alright?

So then you've got players like Trent Brown, who we've got liability for. You've got players, for example, who we've got liability for. You've got players, for example, Stephon Gilmore, Cam Newton, Hunter Henry, Matthew Judon, Lawrence Guy, Matt Lacoste, David Andrews. All those guys can earn, not likely to earn, actor roster bonus. I got I got I got a high tower. All right.

Okay. He, you know, say my man, our man Murph, favorite guy, Brandon Bolden. Okay. Okay. So those guys all have active roster bonuses. We're talking a lot of players who can earn active roster bonuses. So you, you have to have that for the Patriots. You have to have that cushion.

Some, a following line asked me how much cap space each team would need to operate during the season. It really matters. You have to learn the structure of each team. For the team for the Patriots, we use active roster bonuses. They need more cap space than some teams who don't use any active roster bonuses. Right. Right? So I think right now, knock on wood, as long as they stay relatively healthy,

they have enough cap space to operate the rest of the season. All right? And remember, my number, that $10 million number, is with not changing Stephon Gilmore's number. Okay? Oh, wow. Okay. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

So if he got an extension, if he extended them and lowered the cap space, Pacials have even more cap space. All right. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. And operating costs is always, always important. So it's good to know.

Thank you. Yeah. It's, yeah. And it cracks me up that, okay, we'll just move on. Okay. Well, he's going to jump the gun a little bit, folks, because I got a feeling that that may be a primer for our next segment. And you know it, you love it, and we can't wait for it.

But so far, this is why Miguel is on that very short list of being the best of the best in all things salary cap. He's not just a guru when it comes to the Patriots. Other teams, other fans, other media members of other teams reach out to him for wisdom and counsel. And we're so lucky to have him here on Locked On Patriots as a regular to come on and to lend the wisdom and counsel the way only he can. I call him the Pats cap top gun because he is the best of the best. And next, here on Locked On Patriots, in a segment that is unique to this podcast, sorry, Claire,

Miguel will address some of those cat myths that are floating around out there, and he sets the record straight. Do not miss this next on the Locked On Patriots podcast. Locked On listeners, get all the latest news, odds, and info for all of your sporting needs, including Major League Baseball, the NBA, NHL, all of your UFC, MMA action, and of course the NFL with the only place that has you covered and the only place we trust. Bet online. Bet online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all of your sports action. Before the start of your next favorite sporting event,

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and receive your 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit when you use the promo code LOCKEDON. BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. Folks, Miguel Benzon, the Pats cap himself, joins me here on the Locked On Patriots podcast, closing the week in style. Insight you can only find here, folks. And Miguel, in the previous segment,

we talked a little bit, or I should say you enlightened us a little bit on the Stephon Gilmore situation and how that might shake out. You took my 53-man roster and really used it as a way to explain just how the Patriots go about utilizing their optimal operating costs and what it's going to mean for the upcoming season. And right now, if my roster is any indication. Varying here or there.

The Patriots will have more than enough. To be able to operate throughout the season. And they'll be fine. But because you've broken down. Exactly what this means for the Pats. And you're the best that there is. At doing that. One of my favorite parts. At having you join me here on the pod.

My friend. Is your ability to identify. Some of those other cap reports out there that maybe are not so good at doing what you just did in the previous segment. Basically, setting the record straight, bud. In your infinite wisdom, you take those reports, quote-unquote, whether they be good, bad, or indifferent, and you either confirm or debunk them.

So without further ado, folks, Miguel, take us home in the week in style. Set the record straight when it comes to the Patriots' salary cap and their financial future in 2021. All right, folks, if you listen to this podcast, you probably can follow me on Twitter, all right? So you probably saw my tweet from a couple of weeks ago where I basically said that my wife is no longer going to watch a TV show with me,

a football show, because I drive her crazy because every time there's a salary cap mistake, I'm just throwing up my hands in the air. All right? So basically,

we're watching the show and basically they keep on talking about how much money the Patriots have spent this year. How the Patriots have spent $175 million, guaranteed this money. So therefore, that might prevent them from doing anything with Stephon Gilmore. And I was making faces at the TV because I kept on repeating it and I'm yelling it out. You got the numbers wrong. But like as my wife pointed out, they couldn't hear me. If only they could.

If only they could, right? So folks, let me set the record straight on this part, on the guaranteed money and how much money the Patriots have spent this year in the offseason should not, will not affect the ability to re-sign or extend Stephon Gilmore. All right? Yes, it's $175 million. Alright? But it's not a signing bonus. Alright? Some of that was

2020, some of that guaranteed money was 2021 salary. Alright? And a new CBA, the players are going to get this salary over the next 36 weeks. So that the owners were able to convince the players

to spread out their yearly salary over 36 weeks. That helps them in cash flow. Some of that $175 million is 2022 guaranteed salary. Mr. Craft didn't have to put that money away. Because of the new CBA, alright,

you don't have to, on the old CBA, you had to escrow all but $2 million of guaranteed money to a player. Alright? They increased that limit to $15 million in the new CBA because the players were sick and tired of the owners saying, I can't give you the money, a fully guaranteed salary, for the next couple of years because I would have to escort it all.

So they increased how much the cushion was $15 million free it didn't highly affect any players it affected only a couple of players so in it so Bob Kraft

by having guaranteed salary in 2022 and he only has a couple of players with guaranteed salary in 2023 right that $175 million some of it is he doesn't have to pay off for 2022. That's the salary. And once again, it's 36 weeks in 2022. And what they didn't say on TV is that, and this is like a podcast only thing,

I think I said this on Twitter before. I think I said this on Twitter before, all right? I definitely have said this on Twitter before. Like for most of the time when Patriots give out a signing bonus, they pay it out in installments. Right. All right. So let's take a guy who got a big signing bonus, Nelson Aguilar. He got some money within two weeks of the signing.

He's going to get some money on August 31st, and then the rest in March of 2022. All right. All right? So all that money we're going to spend as fans, so Robert Kraft probably had to put up the money in March, some money in signing bonus in March, right? He's going to have some concessions to help pay the early games in September

and October and all the stuff that we buy in preseason. Every time we buy stuff in apparel, from March to October, all these guys have got signing bonus in apparel. He's going to be all in during this from March to October. All these guys have got signing bonuses in late October. Us fans are going to help cover that by all our spending between March and October. Us fans are going to help cover this. And the guys and the people who are sending in their season ticket renewals, all right, are going to help cover the signing bonuses they're going to give out in March of 2022. So altogether, Bob Craft in cash, all right, it's not $175 million.

It's about $95 million, all right? So if you're saying that $175 million is going to prevent the Patriots from extending Stephon Gilmore, then for your argument to be true when the actual fact number is $95 million,

you have to say to the people listening and the readers that $95 million is going to prevent them from signing Stephon Gilmore. And that's not true. I'm like, I'm just sorry. Literally, he spent all this money, and he's building this new school board. Robert, the Patriots are worth billions and billions of dollars. And you tell me that he can't afford it. His cash, his wallet is tied up now.

I mean, that drove me crazy. That's why I tweeted it out. Well, I'll tell you, I saw that scoreboard walking in this morning. It's impressive. It really is. It's a good-sized scoreboard. So, yeah, I can see it. I can understand where you're coming from.

Yes, but that's millions, right? You think it costs millions? It wouldn't surprise me. Yeah, yeah. It had to have cost millions. The way you guys, the media, are talking about how big it is and how impressive it is, I don't think that they got that for less than a million dollars. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't cost them several million dollars.

That's one thing I wanted to get off my chest because it just cracked me up. It's kind of funny because my wife watches football with me, but when it comes to the Saturday Cup steps, I should really stop talking about it because it's over my head. She's right. Me talking to the TV is not going to change what they say. All right. So the other thing I want to set the record straight, and it cracks me up, folks.

All right. They keep on saying, you know, some people keep on saying that Brian Hoyer is now eligible for the practice squad because of the COVID rules. He was always going to be eligible under the new CBA. The COVID rules, if COVID

never happened, Brian Hoyer would be eligible for the practice squad. You know, I don't know. Clearly, I've tweeted out several times

the phrasing in the CBA, took screenshots. Why people still report it that way, I don't know. I have nothing

to say. I got nothing. I got nothing for that. Okay? So those are the two things I wanted to get off to set the record straight about, Mike. I did want to say one more, a couple more

podcast-only tidbits. Alright? Okay, so as you well know, Ronnie Parker has signed his deal. Right. And he's in the third round. Okay. As a third round pick, what they would negotiate, they weren't negotiating his signing bonus.

They weren't negotiating his 2021 salary, which is going to be $660,000. They weren't negotiating his 2022 salary. They were negotiating how much his 2023 salary was going to be. And because of the 25% rule, which means basically the limits how much a rookie's salary can increase from one year to the next, by arguing over the 2023, negotiating over the 2023 salary, you're also negotiating over the 2024 salary. All right? Mm-hmm.

Okay, so if he maxed out his 2024 salary, it would have been $1.3 million. $1.3 million. He actually got $1.3 million. $1.3 million. He actually got $1.25 million. So it's a $50,000 difference. No one's reported that. I want to make sure I said that on this podcast. I like being

podcast-only thing. Well, we talked about a $53 million roster projection. One guy who might, We have a guy, we don't have any players who have reporting bonus, but we do have a guy who has a roster bonus due on August 15th, which is two days before the first cut down.

That's Kyle Davis. He's due a $12,500 roster bonus. In the scheme of things, $12,500 doesn't matter. Alright? It's immaterial. But it'd be interesting to see if he gets cut before or after that

date. Alright, I'm done. And so, Patriots fans, we might be through your work week, but it's not quite time to put a bow on the week that was just yet. Don't forget, keep a sharp eye on the Locked On Patriots Twitter account for instructions on sending in your questions to have them answered here on a special weekend edition of the Locked On Patriots Mailbag.

And to ensure that you do not miss a single second of the action, download, subscribe to, and follow the Locked On Patriots podcast on platforms such as Spotify, the Odyssey app, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts, just make sure that you are staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend, the Pats cap himself, Miguel Benzon, for his time, his insight, and his appearance on today's pod. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening

and for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until next time, Foxborough faithful, stay safe, stay well, be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.