Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Pats Cap Masterclass (Part I): Comp Picks, Adjusted Cap and New England Patriots Roster Building — 3/11/2021

Episode Date: March 11, 2021

The New England Patriots have several key decisions to make in the coming days and weeks, as they build their roster for 2021. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Miguel ‘PatsCap’ Benzan. The pair discuss the financial impact of the trade for Trent Brown, the Pats 2021 compensatory draft picks, and the difference between actual-cap and adjusted-cap. Finally, Miguel builds a logical and frugal roster for the Pats for 2021.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 “LOCKEDON20,” and you’ll get 20% 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. Today is Thursday, March 11th, 2021, and it's time for a double dose of Foxborough finance here on your daily home for news, notes, and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Today's episode of Lockdown Patriots is brought to you by RockAuto.com.

Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Greetings and salutations, Patriots Nation, and thank you once again for joining me here today on this Thursday episode of the pod. 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, your comments, your feedback, always welcomed, very much appreciated. So share that feedback, send it to the internet by reaching

out to me and following me on twitter at mdabatefpc and while you're out there doing some thursday traveling through the twitterverse please be sure to follow the locked on patriots account as well at lo underscore patriots pats fans with each passing day we get closer to the official start of the 2021 league year in the NFL. And from the league level to team levels, including our New England Patriots folks, news continues to break each and every day. Yesterday here on the pod, we found out that the league cap number had indeed been set at 182.5 million.

And even though that is significantly lower than the previous year's cap, considering the impact of the pandemic and so many other factors, that's actually pretty good news for the NFL. But it is very good news for our New England Patriots, as now it is projected that the Pats will have approximately $64.5 million to not only fill several holes on their own roster, but also entice free agents to join the fold this year in Foxborough. That's right, we're talking salary cap on today's episode.

And if we're talking salary cap, you know what that means, folks. A very special treat for me, you, everyone in Patriots Nation, my good friend, the Wizard of Benzahn himself, Miguel Benzahn, joins me here on the hot seat today. And the Pats cap is bringing it. Miguel will give you the latest lowdown on all the moves being made in Foxborough this week and the impact that they will have on the salary cap, such as the Trent Brown trade, the Patriots' decision not to apply the franchise tag, and the impact of the assignment by the league of the compensatory draft picks for 2021.

And we'll get into those in just a minute, folks. But when it comes to the amount of wisdom and counsel that Miguel's going to bring to the pod today, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface yet. The Pats cap himself will go into great detail of how he arrived at the $64.5 million cap number for the Pats, the difference between the actual cap number and the adjusted cap number, and you will definitely want to pay close attention to this one, folks. He revealed some details even I had never heard before. Miguel will also attempt to use his cap insight to build a some details even I had never heard before. Miguel will also attempt to use his cap insight

to build a roster for the 2021 New England Patriots. He's got some interesting ideas on free agents to be brought in, homegrown talent to be retained, and how the Patriots can do all of that and even save a little money in the process.

I know, folks, it's baffling to me, but that's why I call him the Wizard of Benzahn. And last but certainly not least, we all know that Miguel loves to take to the airwaves here on Locked On Patriots to set the record straight. Well, folks, I've known Miguel for quite a while, and I can tell you he has never been more eager and chomping at the bit to set the record straight as he is today. A ton of inaccurate cat myths floating around, and Miguel is here to debunk them and tell

us all the right, the wrong, and the ridiculous when it comes to opinions on the NFL salary cap. Folks, if you think today's agenda is so action-packed that it couldn't possibly fit into one podcast, well, you're absolutely right. Miguel was so red hot during his analysis that you get not only one dose of Foxborough Finance, but two, as my conversation with the Pats cap himself will air on both today's episode and also take you into the weekend in style tomorrow. Folks, all I can say is you will not want to miss what the Pats cap has in store for all of us. And without much further ado, I will be bringing in my good friend Miguel

to bring us the fiscal education that we all enjoy, we all want, and we all need. Some of us more than others. But before I welcome in the Pats cap today, I just wanted to go back and further touch upon some news that I spoke about just a few moments ago. In addition to releasing the salary cap number for the 2021 NFL season, the league also assigned the compensatory draft picks that are accompanied with signing a compensatory free agent. Your New England Patriots received two compensatory picks this year. The 96th overall pick in the third round, which was the compensatory pick for losing

quarterback Tom Brady. I know, folks, not equal value there, but it was the highest awarded. The second was the 139th overall pick in the fourth round. And those of you that were following this on Twitter, just like we all were yesterday, probably had the same reaction that all of us had in Patriots Nation. What a complete load of, well, you know what, it's a family show, folks, and I'll control myself. But those are the sentiments. The Patriots already lost a third round draft pick for that fiasco with Cincinnati and Cleveland that ended up being absolutely ridiculous, and I will stand by that, folks. That was a ludicrous decision by the league to dock the Patriots for a draft pick

for something they had no control over, but again, I digress. I'm trying to control myself here. Bottom line, all of you in Patriots Nation, myself included, thought the Patriots would be getting at least three compensatory picks this time around. But unfortunately, the reason that they didn't all had to do with playing time. Essentially, the Patriots added three free agents last year that were eligible to receive compensatory picks. They lost five such players to free agency.

So as a result, most of us were expecting the Patriots to walk away with at least three compensatory picks. At the end of the day, it really came down to two players. Alandon Roberts, who spent 2019 with the Patriots and 2020 with the Dolphins, and Demir Bird, who was signed by the Patriots and 2020 with the Dolphins, and Demir Bird, who was signed by the Patriots in 2020. With Roberts, it came down to a lack of playing time with Miami. Due to the fact that Alandon missed the Dolphins finale because of a knee injury meant that he didn't qualify in the compensatory picks formula,

and I'll get back to the formula in just a moment. Demir Bird, on the other hand, played significantly more than the snaps required, and he did count toward the compensatory formula. Basically, when the league tries to calculate whether or not a player is going to be eligible for a compensatory draft pick, they take the totality of all the qualifying compensatory free agents lost for the team versus the qualifying compensatory free agents gained by the team. Those who qualify are determined based on a combination of salary, playing time, and postseason honors. In this case, for the New England Patriots, the league added Demir Bird, but they subtracted both Elandon Roberts and Nate Ebner, who didn't qualify, which is where the

discrepancy was. That's essentially why the Patriots received only two instead of three compensatory picks. So, for the benefit of those of you scoring at home, the Patriots now have nine total selections available in this year's draft. That's tied for the fifth most in the league. Obviously, the big one in round one, number 15 overall. One pick in round two, number 46 overall. As compensation for the loss of Tom Brady, they now have the number 96 pick in the third round. They have two fourth round selections, number 120 and number 139.

That's a compensatory pick. And then, of course, one in the fifth round, number 158, two in the sixth round, number 194 and number 196, and rounding it out in round seven, number 241 overall. So will the Patriots make all nine picks? Well, history suggests that Bill Belichick likes to trade them around a little bit, but you never really know from one year to the next. The one thing we do know for certain is that the compensatory pick formula still leaves us feeling a little snakebit. In that regard, our good friend the Pats cap himself, Miguel Benzon, will have the answer to that question and so much more. And folks, fear not, because tomorrow here on the pod, I will be providing my thoughts and insight on the report that the Patriots might be fielding trade calls for former first-round draft pick wide receiver Nakheel Harry.

Anybody who's listened to Locked On Patriots before knows that I've always been a big advocate for Nakheel Harry. I think there's a ton of talent there, and I do believe he's had quite a few obstacles to overcome on his route to becoming a solid pro. However, might a change of scenery be the best option for everyone involved? Again, folks, with a ton to get to today, I want to get to Miguel's wisdom and counsel as much as you do. But to open the show tomorrow, I will be providing my thoughts on Nikhil, as well as the latest news, notes, and analysis from Foxborough.

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At least it is for my guests today. The finances of your New England Patriots continue to be the hot topic in and around Foxborough. And when it comes to the Patriots bottom line, it's time to talk business. New England Patriots business. And when we need the definitive word on any and all things Patriots salary cap, we seek the wisdom and counsel of my good friend, the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. You know him as the Pats Cat. He is Miguel Benzon, and it's my honor to bring his wisdom and counsel back to the podcast

today. Welcome back to Locked On Patriots. Thank you for joining me, my friend. Oh, it's always a pleasure, Mike. I really love your introduction. I swear I can't wait to meet you again and give you a big hug for your introduction. I swear. Well, you know what?

From your lips to God's ears this year hopefully we'll both be back in foxborough covering the pats this year in person really interesting year in 2020 but hopefully 2021 will lead us to better days ahead and we can finally get back and really enjoy uh the the opportunity to cover this team in person and uh you know my friend it's been an interesting week already in new england uh as we speak your calculations again folks the most trusted calculations in the business show the patriots as having 64 million 492 thousand 990 dollars in available cap space that's right folks mcgill calculates it down to the dollar and we love them every bit of them for it uh the league cap has officially been set at 182.5 million dollars

buddy let the games begin uh but before we head into our discussion today regarding the cap the heart of our discussion today um I really want to just go over a few moves that have impacted the Patriots over the past few days. Three that took place earlier this week that may or may not impact the cap. And I wanted to get your thoughts on those. First of all, the Patriots were announced to be receiving compensatory picks on Wednesday. The league did offer that. And in the intro today, I gave all the details on the compensatory picks that the patriots will be receiving the other two moves a little bit earlier in the week obviously the big decision to trade for trent brown bringing him back to the fold for 2021 and per the reports

out there he restructured his deal to an approximate 11 million dollar number for 2021 i want to get your thoughts on that in a moment. And also, the Patriots' decision not to franchise Joe Tooney. That's a move you predicted months ago here on Locked On Patriots. Bud, the floor is yours. Your reaction to these deals, what they mean for the cat for the Patriots in 2021,

and anything you think we need to know that we don't already know. Okay, let's first of all, let's start with the comp picks. They got two. Nick Corte, who protects the picks for overthecap.com, thought they were getting three.

So all this time, you probably heard me say this, I thought the Patriots were going to have ten picks in the draft capital world. Now they have nine. Why they have two, Mike Reese figured it out out a good friend mike reese figured it out because landon roberts didn't play in the last game so he he didn't have enough playing time so if he he didn't qualify if he had qualified the patriots would have got a fourth

round pick for either collins or or no it figures which one they got, okay? It doesn't really matter, okay? So what does it mean cap-wise for the Patriots to have nine picks? It means they're going to – cap-wise it means very little because the person would have had a very small signing bonus population. It just takes – it's going to make, I think, having only nine, now it makes it more likely they're going to trade players, they get more picks. If they're going to trade up for a quarterback and you only have nine picks, you better get some other picks in your arsenal. So now, like today, there was a rumor, blah, blah, blah,

that Nikhil Harry's on the block. You know what I'm saying? So now it makes sense. If you need and want to get another pick, you know what I'm saying, that makes sense to trade him, all right, and give him a fresh start. But what are you going to get for him? You know what I'm saying? I don't know.

I don't know what you're going to get for him, all right? So that's one thing. Trent Brown, I mean, he agreed to a deal, folks, that says if you play every game, you're active every game, and if you earn all your incentives, all right, you'll get $11 million, all right? Doesn't mean his 2021 cap number is $11 million, all right? So I don't have enough information to figure out his calculated cap number now. Why?

I don't even know the amount. I don't know his salary. I don't know how much he's getting per game active roster bonuses. And I don't know the details of his incentives. All right? I am based on what has happened in the past with offensive linemen. I would bet pretty much everything I own that he has playing time incentives. Okay?

But he could also have incentives tied to wins, postseason appearances, Pro Bowls. But I'm pretty sure that he has playing time incentives. Why did I say that? I know Marcus Cannon has them. I know David Andrews had them. Sebastian Vollmer has them. I know David Andrews had them. Sebastian Volmer had them. So it seems to me if you give, when the Patriots give an offensive lineman a deal that contains incentives,

there's always had offensive playing time in it. All right? And Joe Tooney, I never thought he was going to get tagged. I thought they might have because of the cap was so small and the cap number for tagging Nook Falk was going to be small. Maybe there was a chance of doing it, but I didn't think they would do it. And I was confident they weren't going to tag David Andrews because his tag number, that would have made him among the highest paid centers in the league.

I love his work on the field, but you really can't convince me that he should be one of the highest paid centers in the league, especially when he's coming off a deal when he signed it that put him in the bottom half of starting centers, veteran starting centers. So I couldn't imagine them tagging him in that. So those, I think, address those moves. Okay? Excellent.

Excellent information. And again, folks, the information on Trent Brown's deal shores that up a little bit. That provided me some clarification, things that I didn't know on that as well. So I really want to appreciate that type of insight that you bring to the table thank you for the insight also on the compensatory picks i did hit a little bit on the patriots receiving two as opposed to three in the opening of today's show but at the same time you provide

a little bit more insight than i'm able to and i do appreciate that the thing i really really want to hit on is your opinion and your information on dav Andrews and not getting the tag. That's a question that I got a lot on Tuesday, even on Wednesday. Why didn't they tag Andrews? That is good information that it would put him in that top echelon. And as much as I love David Andrews, and I do, I've enjoyed covering him. I hope he's back here in New England. I'm cautiously optimistic that he will be, but we're talking about a guy that does have some health history, and to make that type of a commitment, even at one year, is still a very hefty price tag for the Patriots to commit, so I think the Pats will be able to move forward, maybe with a new deal

for David, but the insight that you provided, especially on that, is key to understanding why the Patriots manipulate the cap the way they do and how they were able to move forward. But the big news of the week could not have hit at a better time. What better way to celebrate you coming on here to Lockdown Patriots than the announcement of the league cap? And the league cap now has officially been set. We said it in the introduction today 182.5 million and again folks miguel had this pretty well nailed down the last time we spoke here on locked on patriots and you can now confidently set the cap number for

the pats you've done so at approximately 64.5 million again i'm rounding up for effect but you uh we gave the dollar amount early on first buddy i'd like you to enlighten our listeners on how you arrive at your figure which again folks there are a lot of cap figures that float around with regard to the patriots this is the one i trust this is the only one i trust so when miguel says it i'm taking it to the bank and we also as a personal favor, as an offshoot to that, we hear a lot about actual cap versus adjusted cap all the time, meaning the league number, the carryover, incentives, guaranteed salary, all of that rolled into one.

It's stuff that even though I try to be the best student I can be when it comes to you, but even I get this twisted at times. So you had an amazing breakdown of how the adjusted cap is determined. Share that on Twitter recently. So, Bud, if you can, let us know what the league cap number now means for the Patriots, how you arrive at the $64.5 million figure, and what this means when it comes to adjusted cap versus actual cap for the Patriots in 2021. All right. So there's a league cap number, right? comes to adjusted cap versus actual cap for the Patriots in 2021?

All right. So there's a league cap number, all right? And that is a derivative of the revenues, all right? But because of the pandemic, all right, it was propped up. If they – because the NFL had lost some money in that last year, obviously, right, if they had not propped it up, it would have been – the league cap number would have been $155 million, all right? So they agreed to – the owners and the players agreed to prop it up. They're going to be borrowing some cap from future years, all right,

which is why somebody asked me on Twitter, do you think the cap number is going to blow up next year? It's not, because they agreed to borrow money to prop up this year's cap against future year's cap. All right? So the two sides agreed on this number. All right? And that number happens to be $182.5 million.

All right? So that's the league cap number. All right? So that's the league cap number. Folks, what the media doesn't often tell you is that the teams operate off their adjusted cap number. And let me explain to you what the difference is. So you've got the adjusted cap number is the sum of three different numbers. The first number is the league cap number. So that's $182.5 million. The second number is the carryover from the prior year.

All right? For our favorite team, the Patriots, all right, they carried over $19,571,247. All right? And the third number is what we call the adjustment number. Basically, it's how you account for people not earning, likely to be earning incentives, people earning, not likely to be earning incentives. And then for the Patriots last year, they had a lot of guaranteed salary offsets.

Remember they cut Steven Krakowski, all right? Well, he had a $2 million salary, guaranteed salary. So his dead money last year included that $2 million salary on the dead money. But because he got paid by the Titans much more than $2 million salary on the dead money. But because he got paid by the Titans much more than $2 million, the Patriots got a credit for it. All right? So you look at all the incentives that wasn't talking about the incentives and offset credits and players not, for example,

some players didn't earn their likely to be earned active roster bonuses. So the Patriots end up total and they have the opt-outs thing. And I got to really mention the opt-outs, right? So the opt-outs, for example, were considered the guys who had voluntary opt-outs, all right? That was considering earning a not likely to be earned incentive. And that's where my number was off before. If you had heard me before on the things, I was saying that the Patriots would have like about $4.6 million in an adjustment. Actually, it was off because I was embarrassed.

I made a mistake, folks. So it ended up being, should I include the $150,000 opt-out money for like Bolden, Lacoste, Vitale, blah, blah, blah. Okay? So the bottom line, the Patriots came up, they were just in the numbers, $3,741,300. All right? How did it come to exactly that amount? That was beautiful. It ends up at $300,000.

Okay? So you add up the 182.5, the 19.57 carryover, the 3.7413 adjustments. Okay. Now you come up to an adjusted cap number of 205 million, $812,547. Okay? What does that mean? Okay? That means the Patriots could allocate all but $1 of that to the players. Okay? So, for example, the league average is less than that. So the Patriots have an advantage over that.

Patriots have an advantage over most of the teams in the league. All right? So they can allocate more cap space to players than average NFL team. All right? And this has been unusual for them in that sense because the Patriots usually carry over so little cap space, they're usually not among the league leaders in the adjusted cap numbers. Okay?

In the first time in a long time, since 2017, that's been true. All right? So then you say, so how do I get my $64.5 million? Okay? I add up the cap numbers for all the players on the roster, all right, plus the dead money, and I come up to a total commitment number. All right? And then I subtract the difference, and that come up to a total commitment number, all right? And then I subtract the difference, and that's the $64.5 million.

I will say this, folks. I am only right now, my number off the, if you go to the website, the NFL PBA website, my number off of their, my difference between my number and their number is only $90,000. $90,000. All right? The other websites, they're off by way more than I am. All right? So when Mike says, like, I'm the best, you can just look at the numbers. You don't have to take his word for it.

Just go online to the NFLPA public salary cap page. Compare my number to the NFLPA. And the one difference, there's two big differences, my number and their number. I'm including the RFA tender for J.C. Jackson, and I'm including an EFRA tender for Jacob Johnson. Why am I doing that? Because I work during the day. And I'm always afraid that a patient is during the day. And I'm like,

I'm always afraid that the Patriots are going to break news while I'm working and people are asking me to change how it's going to affect the cap number. So if I figure that if I already have something in there that I think is going to happen, I don't think anyone's going to doubt that

the Patriots are going to tend to Jacob Johnson. All right? I'm pretty sure everyone thinks, agrees with me, that the Patriots are going to give an RFA tender to J.C. Jackson at the first-round level. They could give him the second round, but I think he's going to give him the first round. All right?

So that explains, hopefully that explains the difference. I think it explains the difference perfectly. And look, bottom line, when you take a look at what the Patriots are going to do, by the way, you meet a lot of fans saying that you think the Patriots are going to offer a first-round RFA tender to J.C. Jackson. I think they're going to as well, from what I've heard from the team. It seems to be the logical option, maybe a second round, like you said, but ultimately I think a first-round tender is likely. I do think they'll offer a a tender to jacob johnson as well but see this is exactly where we come from when we say that you are the best a ninety thousand dollar difference when you

talk about your number as opposed to the number that's available on the nflpa website folks that is a razor thin margin i know it sounds like a lot to some but when you take a look at the amounts we're talking that is a razor thin margin and that's why this guy is the best at what he does yeah absolutely yeah out of a 200 million dollar 205 million 200 without question okay that's very small okay so like i back in the when I was much younger, that would bother me being that off. But now I'm older, I'm like, I'll let it be. I would let it be. Boy, I'll tell you, they'd be in a lot of trouble if I were doing the Patriots cap.

You don't know. I'm counting on my fingers here, buddy, when I'm trying to come up with my cap numbers and things of that nature. This is why we have you on. This is why we love to have you on. You're a dear friend of mine, but I can't tell you how much I respect what you do and how you do it. And folks, fear not,

because we're only scratching the surface with Miguel here today. This is why he's on that short list of being the best of the best when it comes to all things finances and Patriots salary cap. He's the Pat's cap top gun. That's what I call him.

The best of the best. And next year on Locked On Patriots salary cap. He's the Pats cap top gun. That's what I call him. The best of the best. And next year on Locked On Patriots, folks, Miguel is going to reveal his wish list for the Pats 2021 offseason. We know how they got to that number. Now, how are they going to invest that number? And of course, I know you're all waiting for it. Miguel's waiting for it. I'm waiting for it.

In a segment that's unique to this podcast, Miguel is going to address some of those salary cap myths floating around, and he's going to set the record straight. Do not miss this when the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues. Lockdown listeners, NFL football on the field might be over, but the NBA, college basketball, and the NHL are all in full swing. And the NFL equivalent of the hot stove? Well, it just keeps getting hotter and hotter by the minute. When you want to put your prognostication skills to the test, there's only one place that has you covered and one place we trust. BetOnline.ag. BetOnline is the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all of your sports action.

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BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. Locked On listeners, Thursdays on Locked On NFL are a must listen as Ryan Tracy and Jake Liscoe break down teams across the NFL from an analytics and team building perspective. Get the expert analysis on your favorite teams from Ryan and Jake every Thursday. Subscribe to Locked On NFL wherever you get your podcasts. Folks, again, Miguel Benzon, the Pats cap himself, joins me here today on the Locked On Patriots podcast. And it's insight that you can only find here.

And Miguel, we're hearing all kinds of prognostications on what the Patriots might do with all of this cap space. Who's going to get extended? Who are the Patriots going to pursue? Can they trade for a quarterback? Which receiver are they going to bring in on the open market? And you gave an amazing explanation just a little while ago about what the Patriots did to arrive at their number or what you did to arrive at the Patriots number, I should say. And how the cap space is going to work for the 2021 season. But ultimately,

Bud, now that we know the cap, now that we look at this roster, they're going to have to put it to good use. They're going to have to put it to work. When you look at this 2021 roster for the Patriots and you look at the 2021 options out there whether it be names that are rumored to be on the trading block whether it be actual free agents that we know the Patriots are going to have the opportunity to sign even when it comes to their internal free agents that we hope they re-sign is there a player or two out there right now bud that you would like to see the Patriots bring to New England for 2021? And how, as a whole, do you see this offseason going in Foxborough for the Pats?

Okay, like my number one, a couple of targets I would love to get. Joe Smith at a tight end. Claire, I know you're jumping up and down, okay? All right, so folks, if you could sign – and here's the weird – you could sign him to the same deal that Austin Hooper signed last year. His cap number this year would – if you sign him to the exact same deal that Austin Hooper got, his 2021 cap number will be $3.5 million. Okay? The other person I would like to get would be like a wide receiver, like maybe a Corey Davis. Okay?

And so I had put him down, but you could maybe get him for his cap. You get him his $2,000. I think you could get him for a deal. All right? And he's got to get big money. All right? And people say the Patriots won't do anything. Every year they seem to do something they haven't done in their past.

They've never drafted a wide receiver in the first round until they drafted Nikhil Havi. They never signed a big-name free agent cornerback until they signed Stephon Gilmore. They never drafted a guy in the first round until they drafted, oh, actually, no, Logan Mankins, whatever. All right, whatever. Now I'm going way back in the first round until they drafted, oh, actually, no, like Logan Mankins, whatever. All right, whatever. Now I'm going way back in the reach.

But they always do something different. So that idea that they're not going to do something, this is the year to do something you've never done in the past, okay? You have an advantage over the other teams because you've got more cap space. You have holes on this roster. You might as well take advantage of your cap space now. And I'll tell you, folks, like, and the other thing is, next year's cap is not going to go up that much.

It's going to go up, but it's still the teams who are having problems now, and they're going to push out cap and cap space into 2022 and 2023. All right? That's going to help the Patriots this year and next. Because the Patriots don't have that many players signed for next year. Okay? They really don't have that many players signed for next year. By my numbers, they only have 25 players signed for next year.

Of course, they're going to draft some and assign some players who they sign this year. But right now, they only have 25 players, all right? And their total cap hit right now for those 29, 25 is $65.7 million, all right? That gives you a ton of cap space to borrow against this year. So you could say to these players, and the people say, players won't want to come here because they don't have a quarterback.

All right? Most free agent deals are two years, and then maybe we'll see. All right? The Patriots can give a player a lot of money in the first two years of the deal. Gives them advantage that other teams cannot do.

All right? So let's just talk about my dream offseason, okay? I get a bridge veteran quarterback. I don't care who it is. I really don't care. You just put whatever you want, okay? Who do you have another? Adam or maybe, you know, like an Alex Smith, Marcus Morial, someone.

I'm pregnant right now. If I get under a bridge, his salary, his cap number is going to be $8 million. All right? I sign a number one wide receiver. Let's just use names. Corey Davis. His cap number is $11 million. I re-sign Adam Butler, all right, to a good deal.

All right? His first year, 2021 cap number, $6 million. I sign a linebacker to the same deal that Joe Sherbert signed. That would give him a cap number of $5.4 million. I re-sign David Andrews to a deal, all right? I think he should probably try to get $9 million a year. I think he's going to sign for less than that.

So I have his cap number for his first year, $5.5 million. I get another wide receiver. And I sign him to a deal where his cap number is $5 million. I re-sign Lawrence Guy to deal his cap number for the first year is $4 million.

I signed Jono Smith. I got to give some love to the special team, so I re-signed Justin Bessel for cap number $2 million. I've done all this, Mike, and I still have $21.6 million of cap space left. And I haven't cut a player. I haven't traded a player. I haven't redone a player. And I still have that much cap space left.

You know, Bud, it really amazes me how you're not on Bill's Rolodex right now. I'm really dating myself. I'm mentioning Rolodex. But it amazes me how you're not saved in his iPhone. I guess that's a better way. I think I just redeemed myself with some of my younger listeners. But in any case, I assure you folks, I'm not that old there.

What is going to control the Patriots is how much cash they're willing to spend. And I'll say this. They didn't spend a lot of cash last year. They spent about $150 million. And you say, well, that's a low amount of money. Well, that's because they had They didn't spend a lot of cash last year. They spent about $150 million, all right? And you say, oh, that's a low amount of money, all right?

Well, that's because they had several players opt out, okay? Like you really can't. So that's why they were slow because they had the most opt outs, all right? So last year they didn't spend that much money in cash. So, like, typically when you don't spend a lot of money in cash one year, NFL teams spend a lot of cash the following year. Alright? So I'm expecting the Patriots to go from $150 to much more than

that. Okay? And I'll be like, you know, I said to my friend Tom Covington, he says they'll be aggressive. I think this just proves that they can be aggressive and still do what they do. You know, like I'm

not signing, I don't think I'm overpaying the players, alright? I don't think that I'm signing fair deals. I don't think they're particularly team friendly. Maybe people listening to this will say, well, you can't get Corey Davis for a little over a million dollars, alright? So, let's just say you're right.

All right. I haven't cut a player yet. I haven't traded a player yet. Right. So that part is, you could say I'm over, I'm underestimating how much it would cost. All right. But I'll just say this. I haven't cut a player yet.

I haven't traded a player. So I got some, I have ways to create cap speed still. I still have that. If they trade a Stephon Gilmore, if they cut a Marcus Cannon, if Julian Edelman retires, one of those things, or if you extend, for example, you could extend

Dante Hightower and create about $4-5 million in cap space. Yeah, and those space. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, they have options. That definitely is on the table, folks. Yeah. So they have options to create even more cap space than they do now. All right.

I think it's a viable plan. All right. I think it's possible. I think it's possible. All that really is how aggressive that is, and if they can convince the players to come here. If they can't, they can't. It is what it is.

But I think they could definitely rebuild, retool, whatever you want to say about this team. And I said this, I think I said this before, I expect the Patriots to continue to get younger than they were last year. And last year they were half a year younger than they were the year before.

I would expect that trend to continue of getting younger. That's why I don't I really, when these players get cut, especially when they're over 30 years old, I'm like, go ahead, let someone else sign them to a one-year, two-year deal. Let me get some young free agents who are in 25, 26.

I said this several times, you know, I'd rather sign players who were drafted in 2016, 2017 rather than players who were drafted in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Give me the players who are coming on the first, this is going to be their first free agent contract, because those are the guys who just don't want the money. Right. The hardest thing for me to ever guess is a player who's coming off the third or fourth or fifth contract, how much money are they going to sign for? Because by that time,

they've already made as much money as they could possibly. They already tapped out their peak earning money. So where they go is really depending on what they want to accomplish. Do they want to try to win? Do they want to be with their favorite coach?

Do they want to play in a specific scheme? Or do they just want to be with their favorite coach they're less able to play in a specific scheme or they just want to stay closer to home those are but the second year players who the first this is their first free agent contract if their agent isn't telling them to get the most money they're their agents doing them a disservice pats fans the wizard of benzon has not only provided you with the information you need on the trent brown trade helped you sort out that compensatory pick nonsense cleared up some of the fuzzy details on the franchise tag but he's also built you a roster and saved the new england patriots some money in the process really isn't anything this man can't do well one thing he has

not had the chance to do yet that he will do tomorrow is set the record straight on the salary cap myths. Folks, you will not want to miss part two of my entertaining and informative conversation with the Pats cap himself tomorrow here on Locked on Patriots. So to be sure that you do not miss a single second of the action,

subscribe to the Locked on Patriots podcast on platforms such as Spotify, Radio.com, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. Just make sure that you're staying locked into Locked On Patriots. Once again, my name is Mike DeBay. I thank my good friend Miguel Benzon for his time, his insight, and his appearance on today's pod.

I look forward to his return on tomorrow's episode of the 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 tomorrow, Foxborough faithful, stay safe, stay well, always be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.