Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Talkin’ Cap with Pats Cap: Brady and the Patriots - 1/15/2020

Episode Date: January 15, 2020

The New England Patriots will enter 2020, facing decisions that could drastically change the look of Foxboro’s hometown team. Is there a chance that the Patriots can find a feasible financial solution to fielding a contending team AND bring back Tom Brady? Miguel Benzan, the Pats Cap, joins host Mike D’Abate to explain why he believes the Pats can AND will do just that.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello to all of you Foxborough faithful. Welcome to your Wishing and Hoping Wednesday episode of Locked On Patriots, your daily home for news, notes, and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. My name is Mike DeBate. I am your host of Locked On Patriots, which of course is a part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Feel free to reach out to me and follow me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC. And while you're checking out the Twitterverse, be sure to follow Locked On Patriots as well at LO underscore Patriots. Patriots fans, you heard correctly.

I introduced today's show as Wishing and Hoping Wednesday. And no, that's not a new segment here on Locked On. That's simply my poor attempt at play on words. But it's sort of appropriate. There's a lot of wishing and hoping going on in Foxborough right now, particularly when it comes to who will suit up for your 2020 Patriots. There's a certain player you all know, love, and respect that wears number 12 that we want to see back here wearing number 12 again next year.

I'm talking about Tom Brady. And I know, folks, we've done a lot of talking about Tom Brady lately. But without an AFC Championship game to be prepping for, we've got to fill our time somehow. And if we're all being brutally honest, Tom's status for 2020 is the biggest story when it comes to your New England Patriots right now. Just in the past week and a half, we've broken down Instagram statements, talked about Josh McDaniel's status and how that's going to affect what Tom is going to do. Along the way, I've had guests join me here like Thomas Murphy, Steve Balistrieri, Ross Jackson, and Jay Soderbergh, who have offered their take on why Tom will or won't be back next year. But the opinion of all these guests had one thing in common, speculation, myself included.

We can all speak endlessly about why Tom's best chance for success this upcoming year resides right here in Foxborough. But at the end of the day, the decision of whether Tom is going to come back next year is going to come down to two things, logistics and practicality. And nothing provides that outline better than cold, hard facts and figures. So if you're like me and you've had enough of the speculation, you want to go to a source that deals with facts and to tell you why the numbers don't lie. See what I'm getting at here, folks? I thought you did.

Joining me here today on Locked On Patriots is Pat's cap himself. Miguel Benzon, my good friend, joins me, and he will be on the hot seat here, folks. Today we're going to talk about the Patriots' free agents. Who might walk away? Who might stay? Is there anyone that could possibly be tagged with the franchise tag? And last but not least, folks, I will ask him that tough question. What type of contract will it take to keep Tom Brady in New England in 2020?

And maybe even beyond that. So settle in, folks. Get comfortable. Prepare to absorb the wisdom and counsel of the Pats cap. I'm certain that he'll provide you with the information that you've been looking for, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy today's podcast. But before Miguel and I take a deep dive into the Patriots' financial portfolio for 2020, I start with some news tidbits of the day, and this is kind of an offshoot on the tidbit I shared

with you yesterday. And folks, this story just continues to get more convoluted by the minute. I'm sure you recall that yesterday, Tuesday morning, it was reported by Greg Hill of WEI that Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, and their children had moved out of their Brookline home and moved into their new home that they recently purchased in Greenwich, Connecticut. And even though a majority of you looked at that report and said, well, it probably doesn't mean anything. He bought a new home. He's moving in. That's usually what you do when you buy a new home. By Tuesday evening, we weren't even sure if there was a new home. And here on Wednesday, folks, we're still not sure. In what seemed to be a refuting of Hill's Tuesday morning report,

Tuesday evening, NBC Sports Boston's Tommy Curran, who I know and whose word I trust, reported that not only had Brady not moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, but that he didn't even own a home there. Now, you may or may not recall that reports initially surfaced in November that Brady and Bündchen had purchased a home in Greenwich. Curran said he had learned in recent weeks that those reports were untrue. Given the amount of news that's been surrounding the Patriots lately, that new development never actually made it into the news cycle. Curran went on to clarify his statements by saying that the reports that Brady had purchased a home in Greenwich

and that he and the family had moved were something that simply hadn't happened. It didn't mean that he's not going someplace else. It didn't mean that his house wasn't on the market. All it meant was that at this time, the Bradys did not have a home in Connecticut and therefore couldn't have possibly moved there. Now, it probably wasn't intentionally done this way, but to support Curran's statements, both Tom and Giselle posted information on Instagram that indicated they're both still living in Brookline.

So at the end of the day, it seemed like we had the answer that we were looking for. As I like to say a lot here on Locked On Patriots, not so fast. In an apparent effort to double down on his Tuesday morning report, Hill welcomed Fred Camillo, who was the selectman of Greenwich, Connecticut, who recently issued a statement of welcome to Tom and Giselle about being their newest residents to Greenwich. He even lightly joked about it, saying that he was a Steelers fan and it was tough welcoming someone like Tom Brady to hiswich. He even lightly joked about it, saying that he was a Steelers fan and it was tough welcoming someone like Tom Brady to his town.

So again, folks, just when you thought you were out, it pulls you back in. And look, if I take up any more time here on Locked On Patriots to talk about each twist and turn in this story, we'll probably need 12-hour stories 7 days a week between now and March 18th. That's simply not going to happen. Look, bottom line is, there's probably shreds of truth to both sides of these stories that are coming out. I am in no way demeaning Greg Hill, his sources, or the stories that he's put out there. Certainly not demeaning Tom Curran and the reports that he put out on Tuesday evening.

Sum this up, at the end of the day, folks, it's really not that big a deal. Whether he's moved, whether he hasn't. Is he in Brookline? Is he in Greenwich? It doesn't really matter. Tom is going to do what's best for him and his family. Stories like this ultimately don't have an impact on where he'll be playing next year. For Tom, that decision is all about whether or not the New England Patriots provide the best opportunity for him to win and succeed. For the Patriots, it's all about

finding the best value. For a quarterback that may be past his prime, but still has a lot left in the tank, they simply have to decide if they do want to make that commitment to Tom Brady if so what type and how much of a commitment are they willing to make and you know what folks it won't be because of real estate or duties to charities or cryptic Instagram posts it's going to come down once again to facts and figures and in just a moment I will welcome in Miguel Ben, and we will break down exactly what types of financial steps the Patriots need to take to build their 2020 roster. My guest today is the most knowledgeable source when it comes to anything and everything

related to the Patriots' salary cap situation. He's among the best followers on Twitter that you can find anywhere. You know him as Patscat. He is my good friend, Miguel Benzon. It is my honor to bring his wisdom and counsel to the show today. Welcome back to L'Entente Patriots, Miguel. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you for having me, Mike.

Thank you for having me. My pleasure. My pleasure. And you know we brought you here for a purpose, so we're going to get into it in just a little bit. But I use the term best in the business to describe Miguel, folks, and that's not an exaggeration. Whenever I have a question on the salary cap, he's my first source, and quite frankly, he's the only one I need. So let's get right down to it, my friend. The Patriots have 20 free agents coming up in 2020. Ironically, 20 free agents in 2020,

including the biggest fish in the free agent pond. That's Tom Brady. And trust me, folks, we're going to get to Tom in just a moment. But according to several reports, Miguel, the Patriots are projected to have approximately $49 million in cap space as the 2020 season is set to begin. Now, your daily cap update, according to Twitter, shows that the Patriots cap space currently right now is $28,409,211. My first question to you, and an offshoot to that is, first of all, is that $49 million that we keep hearing bandied about, is that an accurate projection? And if so, please walk us through how the Patriots will arrive at that figure to get to 2020 and the start of free agency.

Okay, so let's talk about this figure. The figure comes from my good friend's website, Jason Fitzgerald, overthecap.com. All right? So when you see our $49 million, right, that was from last week. And that was for the 47 players on their roster. My $28 million accounts for the eight practice players that just signed a futures contract. If you look at overcap.com today and look at their overcap space number, it will be around $47 million.

Why? Because they around $47 million. Why? Because they had $47 before. And you add the minimum salaries for four players, all right, that's about $2 million. So it went from $49 to $47. My number difference from overthecap.com is I already included for incentives. For example, they don't have Dante Hightower's incentives.

So I got like for him for like $1.1245 million. Julian Edelman has about $2.5 million in incentives. Marcus Cannon has $900,000 in incentives. Lawrence Guy has some money in incentives. Patrick Chun probably has some incentives. John Simon, Terrence Brooks, Matt Lacoste, those guys have incentives.

That's done on the Over the Cap website. They're more like a general shop. They're a grocery store. I'm a boutique. I only do the Patriots. I'm more up- a boutique. I only do the Patriots. So I'm more up-to-date on the Patriots. I focus on the Patriots. So I'm

more up-to-date on that. And Jason will tell you that on Twitter. And then the other thing I figured out, I've already taken the time to figure out, to guess what the Patriots adjusted number is.

So the Patriots carry over number is, all right? So the Patriots carry over $3.5 million in caps, right? And at the end of the year, they figure out what player made incentives, non-likely incentives, and what players made the non-likely incentives. I figured out that to be a negative number for them because they had a bunch of guys making centers that wasn't on the books for 2019. All right? Right. So I also figured out the credits.

Like, were the Patriots going to get a credit on their cap for Antonio Brown not making it for 46-man active roster bonuses, for David Andrews not earning his 46-man active roster bonuses. I figured all that out, and I come out to a number of $900,000, a negative $900,000, right? I also figured out, you know, like, and also in my number, I already accounted for Dietrich Wise earning the proven performance escalator. Let me just break that down for you folks, all right? accounted for district-wise earning the proven performance escalator. Let me break that down for you folks, all right?

In a new CBA, if you're drafted in the third and seventh round, all right, and you play 35% of the snaps in two of the first three years or a total of 35% of the snaps for the first three years, your salary in the fourth year gets increased to low restricted free agency tender. All right. I don't know what the exact number is. So I'm just, I'm guessing that everybody's saying the lead cap is going to be $200 million.

Well, if you know the lead cap is going to be $200 million, then you can use that increase from 2019 to figure out the low RFA tenant. So I have $2.5.2 million for Dietrich Weiss' salary. Jake, over at Cap.com, has his salary at $735,000. I'm telling you right now, between now and the start of free agency, there's going to be people, oh, you know, like, on B-Ride saying that DJ Wise got his salary got increased to 2.51, 2. I'm telling you this right now.

So wait for the, the B-Ride's going to tell you in March. I'm telling you this right now, that's what's going to happen. You know what I'm saying? So all my numbers accounted for that. That's why the difference, I have a difference of that. Between the 28 and now the 47. You know what I'm saying? So that's where they got the 47 is because, and I'll say this, I'm pretty sure that Jason's number and then Capspace's number is off.

I don't know what, I forget what he had for the Patriots, but it's off. It's not the $3.55 million. So that's weird. I don't think I can actually explain the entire difference between my number and his. But I can explain a great deal of it.

Absolutely. And you know, that insight is exactly why we brought you on here today. First of all, you mentioned the projected league salary, Kathy, in $200 million. That's going to be relevant in a see on a national level, and even on a local level. It's that intricate level of detail that makes me trust you above all others, and that's why I brought you in today, my friend. We want to know the facts. We want to know what the Patriots are doing. Yeah, so like,

another thing, just to be totally geek-nored on, alright? You remember Andrew Beck, the undrafted free agent that we had? Absolutely. He got $100,000. Okay, so he got a $100,000 salary, guaranteed salary. Because he earned – so when the Patriots cut him in September, he counted against $100,000 plus on a Patriots salary cap.

All right? All right. But because he earned $100,000 in cash in 2019 with other teams, the Patriots are going to get credit on their 2020 cap. I accounted for that. So that helped the Patriots cap. So I'm saying that kind of boutique thing, I do. Jason will tell you on Twitter that he doesn't do that.

Right. Jason, right now, I'm the only one out there who takes a guess at the adjusted number. I'm telling you right now, I have it as a negative number. Last year, I was close. I was like $15,000 off of a $5 million number. Right. You know what I'm saying? So I'm close.

I think I'm close to the number. But, like, I'm guessing, I'm projecting, like, Jordan Riches and Kai Fullbath are not going to take termination pay. All right? Because it's such a small amount. So if they don't take the termination page, the pay, excuse me, the Patriots are going to get a small amount of credit. You know what I'm saying? So I'm comfortable that I'm saying

there's going to be a negative $900,000. I'm not sure I'm going to be right in March, but I'm going to have a negative $900,000. But I'm going to be close. I'm comfortable now saying my number negative $900,000 is going to be closer to the truth, the true number, than zero. And that's what Jason has.

And I don't want to sound disparaging Jason. I love his work. But he's a grocery store. He takes care of 32 teams. I'm a boutique. I just take care of the Patriots. Absolutely. It's the intricate knowledge that you bring to the team, being around it, covering the team, being involved in what the team has, and knowing the incentives.

Like I said before, the additional monies that are at stake here, that does what separates the number that you provide from the national number. And again, like I said, I roll with you, my friend, and I do that not because we're personal friends, but because I trust that, and I know the work that you put into that, and it comes from a position where you're bargaining from, well, not bargaining, but you're giving the projection based on information

that you have that no one else has. And again, that's why they call you the Pat's Cat, my friend. So building off of that and going by your projection... And I just want to say one thing. Sorry, Mike. I just want to say to people, like, literally people, like after I put out the $28 million, people was like, that can't be right. Everybody's saying the $49 million, right?

So I knew that. And I'm telling you, folks, I've been sick. I've been fighting enough cold. So the first time I saw the number, I'm like, that can't be right. All right? I got to be something wrong. I actually triple-checked my numbers. All right.

And so I took a while. I usually put the numbers right after the day the season is over. I usually put the number out. Because I knew that people would question this, I triple-checked my numbers. All right. And I put it out there, right? But it made me feel so good. A day later, Mike Reese reports, puts on his weekly column,

and I highly recommend people read it, that he had it from a league source, the Patriots cap space number was $30 million. Right. So it's like maybe he, I'm not saying like, I'm definitely not Mike's source. All right. So he said, Mike says $30 million. Mike's one of the best beat writers around and just won the sports writer of the year. Phenomenal.

So he says, he says last Sunday in his column, $30 million. I say 28. That's close enough for me, folks. All right. Rather than saying $49 million. I know people want to believe it's $49 million, but I'm telling you, folks,

if I'm saying it's $28 million and Mike Veach is saying it's $30 million, go with us. That's what I'm going with. Based on that assumption, my friend, the Patriots do have several key agents whose fate needs to be decided. Devin McCourty, Kyle Illinois, Jamie Collins, Joe Tooney, they project to be the most expensive,

if you're taking just based on pure logistics. Of those mentioned, who might the Patriots be willing to pay a bit more than market value, if any of them? And could any one of the ones that I mentioned, or maybe a free agent that I haven't mentioned, be a candidate for the franchise tag this year, which we haven't seen the Patriots use in a little bit.

Okay, I don't see them using the franchise tag at all. The player who's most deserving of a French Dice Act, and like, ooh, geez, let's just put in air quotes deserving, is probably Joe Tooney. And he's left God, and he's going to be around $14.9 million. Oh, yeah. I just don't see it. Yeah, so like he got to see the problem with the Patriots.

They got a first world problem. They won. Right. So the players, they've already won Super Bowls. It's time for them to get paid, folks. And this is the year to get paid. And so I don't see Joe Tooney. I don't know how they got Jonathan Jones to take that deal.

Shaq Mason's deal is a great deal for the Patriots. Shaq Mason's deal is a great deal for the Patriots. Shaq Mason's deal is a great deal for the Patriots. Maybe they could sweet-talk those guys to take team-friendly deals. I've not seen it. I'll be pleasantly surprised that they got to keep – I say Joe Tooney's gone. I say Calvino is gone. I think Jamie Collins stays because I think he realizes this is a place that best maximizes talent. If you want to go through all the 23 ages, we could just do that.

But, you know what I'm saying? I don't see anyone getting the tag. I'll be pleasantly – I'll be – I just don't see it. Miguel, providing the type of insight that only you can provide, and this is an invaluable lesson for me, I'm sure it is for all of you, but you all know that he was brought here for a purpose. And in just a moment, we will delve into the financial feasibility of bringing Tom Brady back to Foxborough for 2020.

Once again, Miguel Benzon, the Pats cap himself, joins me here on Locked On Patriots. And Miguel, Tom Brady is set to become a free agent on March 18th. For the first time in his career, it's been widely reported that he is expected to receive a hefty payday and that he's not going to take a hometown discount. But before we get into those logistics for just a moment, the Patriots will certainly have to create additional cap room to afford such a deal. And in addition to letting some of the free agents that we just talked about walk, they're going to have to clear some

cap space as well. As we speak, Stephon Gilmore is the biggest cap hit for the Patriots, approximately $18.7 million according to SpotTrack. I have to figure he would be a prime candidate for an extension, I would think. But two players have significant discrepancies in terms of their cap hit and the dead cap money. And that, to me, is Dante Hightower, who right now is on the cap, correct me if I'm wrong, approximately about $11.3 million cap hit. No, that's about $12.4 million. He's $12.4 million.

Thank you. Thank you for that. So thank you for the clarification. And in my estimation, his dead cap hit is significantly less than that. Another one is going to be Marcus Cannon, who, correct me if I'm wrong again, if the discrepancy between his cap hit and his dead cap is approximately about maybe $5.56 million, depending on the numbers that I've seen. Right, right.

Right, right. So based on that, are these guys likely roster cuts or trade chips, or are there other moves that could be made here to help free up some cap room? Okay, so let's just talk about Gilmore, all right? Because for some reason I get a lot of questions about Gilmore, all right, even though he's the best player on the defense, all right. He is out there for $18.7 million. Next year his cap is like $19 million.

Because of the new CBA, and when the last year they covered CBA, all right, they can't do what they did last year, which is convert salary into signing bonus because there's a 30% rule. What that means, Mike, if your 2020 salary, I'm just going to keep it simple. If your 2020 salary is $10 million, your future increases cannot be more than 30% of that or $3 million. That means your 2021 salary can't be more than $13 million. All right? So you can't lower, for example, in Stephen Gilmore's case, you can't lower his salary to $2 million in 2020

and then have his 2021 salary be $14 million. It can only be 30% more than the $2 million. Right. So you can't do what you did in 2019. So what you're going to do with the players you want to keep, you're going to have to extend

them past the couple years, a year or a year to past the current years. So if you're going to do anything with Gilmore, you're going to probably go out past the 2021 season. If you want to do lower, high towers in the cap number, all right, because either you're going to ask them to take a pay cut for this year or you're going to extend them, all right?

So, like with Marcus Cannon, right,, he signed for a couple more years. So what you would have to do is the most likely thing to do is just cut them, and then you're saving about $5.3 million in cap space. All right? So then you're thinking about other ways to create cap space. For example, Mohamed Sanu, he's $645 million in the cap. I expect them, the Patriots, to say to him, hey, let's lower your salary to about $4 million and give you a chance to earn the other $ and a half million dollars through incentives something like something like that you're saying and then you you're gonna have to

decide who you want some other people with some relatively big cap numbers like do you want to keep steven gickowski do you want to keep jason mccourty you know saying do you want to let go do something with duran harman all right I'll say this. They have a lot of the players I'm mentioning, like Harmon, Gakowski. They're in the last year of the deal. So this signing bonus proration is

going to be on the cap no matter what. If they're cut or traded. So what the Patriots are going to decide is how much cash I want to pay those guys. You know what I'm saying? And, like, for example, do you really want to go with Harmon and pay him close to $4 million in cash?

Eh, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? So, like, that's what they're going to have to do. They're going to have to decide. The guys, they have a lot of guys in the $2 million to $5 million cap range that have to decide how much they really want to pay those guys. You know what I'm saying? So that's where they're going to come.

Yeah, that's where they're going to do. And, like, in some ways, like, I don't know, like, for example, I don't know why people think the Patriots can't build a Super Bowl contender if Tom Brady's back. I'm like, I just don't get it. I'm like, I've been hearing, like, you know, all this time, like, if you know, if you've been following me on Twitter, if you know me at all, you know, I'm not like, I believe in that.

I think that the people who say the cap is crap, people are just being lazy. You know what I'm saying? I just, I'm like saying, they say,'m saying? I just think that's a lazy take. I think that the cap is important to how you manage a team. So basically they're saying because you can create ways to change a player's cap, therefore the cap is crap. I just don't believe in that. ways to change the players' cap and they're saying that therefore the cap is crap. Eh! I just don't believe

in that. But now the same people who have been saying that in the last several years, the cap is crap, are now telling me, I'm hearing them saying now the Patriots can't build a Super Bowl contender because Tom Brady might have a cap number in 2020. I just don't

get that. You know what I'm saying? It just boggles my mind how they can pivot and people take them serious. At least I'm consistent. You know what I'm saying? They just say something.

They just pivot. Oh, this is driving me crazy. I'm sorry. No, it doesn't have to. You don't have to apologize. Again, that's why I brought you on the show today because you lend that wisdom and counsel the way only you can do it. And I happen to agree with you. I think that it is feasible

to expect Tom Brady back next year. And that leads me into my final question for you tonight, my friend. And that is, based on the assumption that it's feasible to bring back Tom Brady, you presented a scenario on Twitter last week, and it's continued to make a lot of waves across the social media landscape of a potential return for Tom Brady in 2020

and what an extension that could be reached prior to 4 p.m. on March 18th might look like. For the benefit of our listeners here on Locked On Patriots, you can walk us through that and tell us why a deal like this would be the best case scenario for bringing Tom back in 2020. Okay. I don't listen to sports radio, all right, because I work during the day, all right? So somehow people said a two-year deal for $50 million, all right, for Tom Brady.

All right. Folks, that's possible. And I'm saying something like, literally, I do this part-time, and I could come up and I could do this. Like somebody wrote an article, it's almost impossible for the Patriots to come up with a deal with Brady. I'm like, are you kidding me? Like I could do this part-time and I could do it.

Like literally, so if Bob Kraft, Tom Brady was I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, I could do this part-time, and I could do it. Like, literally, so if Bob Kraft, Tom Brady was in a room, and it was not, and I was in a room, and Bob Kraft says, Tom and I have come to this deal, and this is what I want his captain to do, I could say, Bob, I can make it happen.

And I do this part-time, and I'm not getting paid. So I'm sure the Patriots cap guys can do this. I am 100% sure they can do it. I had to do this part-time and I could do it, and I'm positive people who get paid for it for a living could do it. So let me break down this deal for you, okay? So let's just say you want to pay Tom Brady $50 million total over the next two years.

And let's just make sure that we keep this deal in compliance with the 30% rule. I tell you this, folks. Folks, you want Bob Kraft. It's a lot easier for the Patriots to build a Super Bowl contender if the CBA gets extended. All right? We don't have enough time to talk about how hard is the 30% rule. We talked about it a little bit before, but it would be a lot easier for the Patriots to win,

to build a Super Bowl contender, because the rules that would be in place would hurt them more than most other teams, and I'll say that one reason why is the 46-man active roster bonuses and incentives. I don't know how it's going to work out. The Patriots have a lot of players with incentives, and I'll get back to the Tom Brady thing. I hate to jump off, but the Patriots are going to have a lot of incentives. So what happens in 2020, all right, it's going to happen just in this year. And if it's the final year of the CBA, a player hits their incentive, all right,

it's going to hit the 2020 cap in 2020, not in 2021. So let's say Julian Edelman gets the Pro Bowl next year, all right? I think it's $500,000 he's got a Pro Bowl incentive. The day he makes that Pro Bowl, $500,000 is going to come off the Patriots' cap in 2020. So the Patriots are going to have to,

so teams who have a lot of incentives, which the Patriots do, have to have that money in reserve. Right. Because you're not allowed to go over the cap. Absolutely. All right, so you're thinking – okay, so that's why it's going to be – why we, as a Patriots fan, you want to have the CBA extended. So let's go back to Brady.

All right? I'm sorry. Okay, let's go back to Brady. No'm sorry. Let's go back to Brady. No, it's okay. Okay. If you want to have a deal that follows the 30% rule, I can get

his cap number and I'm just making his cap number $28.875 million. But I could get that lower. All right? I could get that lower, but I'm saying that's what he could be, and that would give him $25 million in cash this year and next year. I could make that number lower, and then I could have him have a –

but I would have to probably, instead of having a signing bonus, a large signing bonus or a large salary in 2020, I would have fully guaranteed some of his salary in 2021. Like right now, if he walked away from my deal, if he retired in 2021, the Patriots would only have like about $9 million in dead money if he walked away. You know what I'm saying? Right. Like I couldn't make, you know what I'm saying? So that's a, so, whoa, you have them for, you pay them $25 million this year, and you only have about $9 million, $9.5 million in dead money in 2021. That's, you know, and then, you know, and then you have a clean cap for 2022.

I could do that, folks. And I'm an amateur, all right? So I could, and if I could do that, and then let's say, if I could do that for just for 2000, build a deal that covers 2020, 2021, and I could do that, the patriots who are professionals, all right, Ernie Adams can get his number lower and do it. I am 100% sure of that. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'll say this. I hate to keep on talking, but I'll say this.

Like, this whole Jimmy G thing, like, I keep on hearing the people, they could have kept Jimmy G, all right? I heard that today on a show today. All right? I say to them, if the Patriots had, I guarantee you, they'd spend man hours trying to figure it out. Right. How they could keep Jimmy G and Tom Brady on the cap.

They couldn't do it. And plus the whole thing about why would Jimmy G agree to be a backup, all right? That's the whole ego thing. If the Patriots couldn't do it, I couldn't do it, all right? And I know there's folks that recommend following the man Joe Corey, who writes for CBS Sports. He said he couldn't do it without compromising how the Patriots do their job, modus operandi. He couldn't do it without compromising how the Patriots do their job.

He couldn't do it. The people on the radio, the sports radio, who said they could do it, they never actually put the numbers out. They just say they could do it. They don't show you a spreadsheet that said they could have done it. So, folks,

I'm telling you right now, it's possible. All it is for Tom Brady is for Robert Kraft and Tom Brady to agree and Bill Belichick to agree to say, hey, we want to be together. Whatever number there is, it's possible to do. It depends how much dead money you want to eat at the end of the deal. It's possible to do a two-year deal right now. Me as an amateur could come up with a two-year deal and have just $9.5 million dead money in 2021. I am confident.

You know what I'm saying? Like someone else did a deal or actually't even make, wouldn't be allowed. I don't know when I saw some deal today that had, Trump Brady had a $1 million salary in 2020 and a $20 million salary in 2020. But in the article, they never say if the CBA was extended. You know what I'm saying? So I don't know if they just presumed it was. I don't know why.

You know what I'm saying? I would say if I was writing an article about, like I say, I would tell people, yeah, I'm presuming the CBA is extended or not. You know what I'm saying? But I'm telling you, if I could do it, I know the Patriots could do it. It just depends on what number. Like if Brady wants $40 million, all right, then you have to say what you would think about is

is Brady going to play at a level that's worth $40 million in 2020? You know what I'm saying? The thing with Brady and Robert Kraft and Bill Presley is if they can agree that Tom Brady is going to play at X level, and let's

say X is $25 million cap number, or even $30 million cap number, or $30 million and whatever. Let's just say you want to be above Jimmy G, which is $28 million. If they come up with saying, no matter what, I want to have $20 million for the next three years, so I'm going to leave behind making money, they could do it. They could definitely do it. It just depends because I can't say on a podcast how difficult it would be. I know with the escalator, like constant wealth and steel is crazy because of the rules,

but it's possible to do it. And then you think, well, can you build a team around Tom Brady? Yeah, because, A, the Patriots and folks, they have – they have people saying they're the old team, blah, blah, blah. They're the old team in the last year of the deal. Just walk away. Just walk away. Marcus Cannon, just walk away.

You don't say Dante Hattab, either extend or go away. Pay Stephon Gomez, you know, lowers his cap number. I'm like, that's the thing. And the other thing I haven't mentioned is, like, I am 100% sure. I've been tracking, I've been doing this ever since I came to Sally Cap. Like, I am 100% sure the Patriots would have won agreements against Aaron Hernandez. Right?

I've never seen that $3.25 million hit the cap. Imagine if it hits the cap in 2020, that's at least one veteran player, maybe one and a half veteran players. Right. And if they win the agreements against one veteran player, maybe one and a half veteran players.

And if they win the grievance against Antonio Brown, that's another $9 million. That's $12 million. That's $9 million. That's like three veteran players, folks. Exactly. That's a lot of money for them. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's a lot of money.

I know today people are asking me this whole thing about back and forth. Like, I'll say this. I said I think the Patriots would win an Antonio Brown grievance. And I'll say this. I think if you can interpret the CBA so the Patriots don't have to pay him the money, it will be interpreted that way. I just don't see Roger Goodell ordering an NFL owner to pay

Antonio Brown $9 million after all of his behavior. I would say this, if you paid him the $9 million, it could be viewed as rewarding his behavior. And I just don't see that happening.

Yeah, and especially with everything that's been hitting the news lately with regard to Antonio Brown, it's going to be interesting to see how that works. But I will say this, in your explanation of trying to bring back Brady and what it would take to do that, you've definitely made our listeners here at Locked on Patriots very happy. You've made me look pretty good as well because I've been saying right along that I believe that Tom is going to be back

and I believe it's going to be based on logistics, not necessarily on money. A lot of people are focused on that and you've laid out a scenario that I believe definitely gives the possibility that the financial concerns can be worked out, and they can be worked out in a way that's beneficial for all parties, my friend.

And I'll just say this for the last thing for the listeners. I think it was today's January 14th. The league year starts March 18th. The CBA extends the coming – you know, they have a deadline of March 18th. The CBA extends the currency. They have a deadline of March 18th. I wouldn't be surprised if the Patriots wait to see if the CBA is extended to do anything with Brady.

Definitely. Having an extended CBA makes doing the deal easier. If you wait until... Having an extended CBA makes doing the deal easier. Right. And if you wait until the deal. Here's the odd thing, Mike. If you do a deal right now, you have to follow the current CBA rules.

You do a deal after the CBA gets extended, you follow those rules. So even though the rules change, you have to follow the current rules of the CBA when you do the deal. Right. So, like, if you do a deal, you do a deal, you know what I'm saying? So whatever you do to deal is when you follow that CBA. It's a lot easier to do a deal with Brady and limit how much dead money in the future if you do it after the CBA gets extended. Exactly. And based on that assumption, I do agree with that CBA gets extended. Exactly. And based on that assumption, I do agree with that.

I agree with that assessment. And I think it is worth it to keep a sharp eye on the CBA, whether or not it's going to be extended and what that means for a Tom Brady contract in New England. It's anybody's guess, my friend. We will always do our due diligence. Oh, my gosh. We'll keep a sharp eye.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know you will be. Folks, I cannot recommend following Miguel high enough on Twitter and on social media. At Pat's Cap, there is not a more knowledgeable source on the cap, CBA, anything related to Patriot's financial situation. He's my go-to guy, and he should be yours as well. My friend, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for coming on today, lending your wisdom and counsel, breaking down free

agency, cap hits, anything and everything, and of course the information that you relate on, Tom Brady. Again, you've made the listeners here on Locked On Patriots very happy and I thank you for that. Anytime. Anytime, Mike. I love listening to your show. Mike, I swear I

listen to your show all the time. I just love coming on. I love listening to your show. Mike, I swear I listen to your show all the time. I just love coming on. I appreciate it. And I'll say this. As a guy, as a freaking guest, I think how you introduce the guest makes our day. Well, I assure you it comes from a place of sincerity. It comes from a place of humility. I'm humbled by the guests that come on my show each and every day.

You take time out of your busy schedule to come on, make me look better, and lend your wisdom and counsel to my listeners. What more could I ask for as a host? So, again, thank you so much. I appreciate the kind words. I really appreciate the support, the downloads, the listens. But most of all, I appreciate the information that you give and your friendship above all else thanks my friend have a

great week and you know we're going to be calling upon you if anything should come up anytime now and March 18th with related to it will something's coming up something's coming up absolutely and you're the first call that I'm going to make as always

thank you so much Miguel anytime anytime You're the first call that I'm going to make, as always. Thank you so much, Miguel. Anytime, anytime. So there you have it, folks. The Pats cap himself has given you a reason to believe. He's done what most said can't be done, and that is find a practical financial solution to the demands of Tom Brady's contract and the willingness of the Patriots to meet those demands. Of course, I do caution you.

It doesn't mean it's going to happen that way. Both sides have to be willing to give a little bit. But for those that have said that it's financially impossible for the Patriots to bring back Tom Brady and field a competitive team next year, I give you the words of my friend Miguel. If he can find a way to make the numbers work, the Patriots professionals should be able to do the same thing. On that note, I hope that you enjoyed Miguel's appearance today. As for me, I will be back again tomorrow,

and we're going to throw it back a little here on Locked on Patriots. Throwback Thursday, a little bit of a travel back in time to the 2019 season, and some of your favorite moments. So stay tuned for that. As always, please be sure to join me each and every day here on the Locked on Patriots podcast. Subscribe and download via your preferred podcast provider. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate. I thank Miguel Benzon, a.k.a. The Pat's Cap,

for his time, insight, and his appearance today. But most of all, I thank you all so much for listening and for staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. Have a great day, everyone.