Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Wisdom and Cap Wealth - PatsCap Talks Patriots Finances for 2021 — 12/30/2020

Episode Date: December 30, 2020

The New England Patriots are expected to have a wealth of available salary cap space for the upcoming 2021 season. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Miguel ‘PatsCap’ Benzan to discuss the Patriots salary cap prospectus; including earned and non-earned incentives, and the future of players such as Cam Newton, Stephon Gilmore, Joe Thuney and Dont’a Hightower in Foxboro 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 “LOCKEDON,” 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. BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BetterHelpI want you to start living a happier life today. As a listener, you’ll get 10% off your first month by visiting our sponsor at BetterHelp.com/LockedOnDoorDashRight now, our listeners can get $5 off and zero delivery fees on their first order of $15 or more, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKEDON. 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 Wednesday, December 30th, 2020. And today it is Wealth Wednesday 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. Locked on Patriots is presented today by Pepsi, made for football watching.

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Watching. Greetings and salutations, Pats Nation. Long last, we are almost ready to say goodbye to 2020. And it's been a year to forget, really, in society as a whole, but especially a year to forget for your New England Patriots. The final game of the season is taking place a lot sooner than any of us are used to here in Foxborough. And that has all of us here in Pats Nation looking ahead to 2021. Which players might be coming back?

Which players are ready to bid a fond farewell to Foxborough? And most importantly, what will the Patriots' financial situation look like to be able to build a contending and winning team in 2021? Well, folks, you know what that means. If we're talking Foxborough Finance, we are talking the best in the business. The salary cap top gun, the Pats cap himself, Miguel Benzon, drops by the pod today. And you know as well as I do that when Miguel drops by here to the pod to talk Patriots' financials, the needle on the wisdom and counsel meter breaks off. Miguel will bring us his prognostication on what the Patriots

salary cap situation might look like headed into 2021. How the incentives, both those likely to be earned and not likely to be earned, affect the Patriots not just this year, but also next year. Finally, we'll be talking some big name New England Patriots and whether Miguel thinks they might be best suited finding employment elsewhere next year, based purely on finances. Of course, we're talking guys like Joe Tooney, Stefan Gilmore, JC Jackson, Dante Hightower, and of course, quarterback Cam Newton. Last but certainly not least, when Miguel joins us here on the pod, you know that he

always drops a few unique pieces of wisdom and counsel, pearls of wisdom I like to call them, that you can find only here on Locked On Patriots. Anytime Miguel joins me here on the hot seat, I am both honored and humbled. The great and powerful Wizard of Benzana, as I like to call him, is not only one of the most requested guests here on Locked On Patriots, but he's also one of the most respected. The meticulous work that he puts in down to the penny to calculate the Patriots' salary cap situation makes him the primary and go-to brain on anything related to Patriots' financials by fans, beat writers, national analysts, and I'm sure the team has a sharp eye on this guy's work as well.

And although his appearances on the pod are usually labeled as Financial Friday, today being Wednesday, as the Admiral of Alliteration, thank you, Claire, I will take some alliterative license and I'll label today Wealth Wednesday. And because Miguel has so much knowledge to drop on the pod today, without further ado, we bring you the great and powerful Wizard of Benzón, the Pats Cap himself. Miguel Benzón joins me here on the hot seat to talk anything and everything related to Patriots financials when the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues. I don't know about you sports fans, but breaks in the action always make me hungry.

I'm Mike DeBate, host of the Lockdown Patriots podcast. And folks, if there's one phrase that we've heard a lot of during 2020, it's quote unquote new normal. And some may embrace that phrase, some may find it annoying. But one thing most of us can agree on is that it's true I'm sure that we can all relate to our classrooms our workplaces Even our places of recreation are pretty much all the same place now and because of that time can be more of an illusion Than a luxury between never-ending laundry cycles and incoming emails. You've got plenty on your to-do list So give yourself one less thing to worry about and and let DoorDash take care of your next meal. That's right, folks. Take the stress of meal

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Subscribe to Locked on Bets brought to you by betonline.ag wherever you get your podcasts. Patriots fans, the Pats are set to take on the New York Jets on Sunday, January 3rd, 2021. 1 p.m. Eastern at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. The season finale of the 2020 NFL season for the Pats. And while that might be the story of the week, 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 the great and powerful wizard of Ben Zahn. You know him as Pat's cap. He is my good friend, Miguel Ben Zahn.

And it's my honor to bring his wisdom and counsel back here to the podcast today. Welcome back to Lockdown Patriots, Miguel. And thank you so much for joining me, bud. Oh, it's always an honor and a pleasure. I love coming on this show. I can't believe it. I think it's funny that I'm coming on a wonderful Wednesday instead of a finance Friday, because

last time my schedule got so screwed up, because I listened to you, and I'm like, wait a minute, I'm listening. I thought it was Friday when I listened to you, you know, like I listened to you. I'm like, and I'm like, wait a minute, I'm listening. I thought it was Friday when I listened to you, but actually it was Wednesday at Clifford. So I was dying. I just think it's funny. And I got to say this. I don't want to get, I want to say this.

Mike, I don't listen. I'll give you credit. You have, on all the podcasts I'm on, you have more female guests than anyone else. I just want to say that. You do more. I just want to appreciate that. You have Classy Claire.

You have Sarah. You have Karen Green. You have more female guests than any podcast, Patriot podcast, I listen to. I just want to give you a hands up, stand up, stand up for that. You know what I'm saying? Well, thank you, buddy. I do appreciate that. They say you're humbled by the company you keep and being a part of a great beat like the Patriots beat where there's so many excellent

writers, so many tremendous analysts whether they be male, female, they're all second to none as far as I'm concerned and I choose my guests carefully because I always want to convey to my listeners the best and the brightest in terms of information and in terms of the completeness of the information. So I always look forward to having my guests on, whether it be Karen, whether it be Claire, whether it be Dr. Jessica Flynn, whether it be yourself or Murph or Steve or anybody. I'm honored to have you all on my show. So really, I appreciate that.

Thank you very much. And that means a lot to me that you would feel that way. And like I said, you know, you always have a spot amongst the family table here at Locked On Patriots. And the fact that you choose us to be your vehicle for so many of your pearls of wisdom, unique pearls of wisdom that you only hear here on the podcast, I cannot be more grateful for. So thank you, buddy. No problem. I just wanted to say that because I'm like, man, you had Jessica. You have Karen.

You had – I just want to say that. I just want to get off my chest. No, and I appreciate that. I really and truly do, and that does mean a lot to me. And, you know, Bud, it's unbelievable. We're in very, very late December, early January on the cusp of starting, and it's uncharted territory in the New England Patriots for this millennium anyway. Playoff football not being a part of the Patriots' plans in January,

just a surreal time for all the fan base. And, you know, I'm all about finding the positives, bud. You know that from listening to this show and from being a guest, you know, from time to time. Maybe with all the extra time on the Patriots' hands right now, their front office and the coaching staff, they might just have a bit more time to work together and help build a winning team in 2021. And that begins with finances. That is an area in which you are the supreme expert as far as I'm concerned. So let's get down to it, buddy.

As we speak, your calculations show the Patriots as having $19,706,179 in available cap space. And you know, Miguel, based on what we've been hearing all over the national landscape and to the local landscape, we've been hearing that the Patriots may have anywhere between $55 and $75 million in available cap space to start 2021. Now, in no way am I disparaging anyone. I'm not discounting anyone's sources or any of their calculations. But, Miguel, when it comes to finances, I use the term best in the business to describe you. That's not an exaggeration. Whenever I have a question on the salary cap, you're my first source. If I'm being honest, you're the only source I need.

And having the good fortune of knowing you as well as I do, I see the work, the meticulous detail that you put into every calculation and projection. And that's why I trust your numbers so much. So, Bud, here's the question. Based on what you've seen and based on what your projections might be, what do you believe the Patriots' salary cap situation might look like as we head into 2021? Okay, so folks, some of you guys have probably heard this before. So let's talk about how a team's cap space number is calculated. It is the difference between their adjusted cap number and their cap commitment. Okay, but how does a team have adjusted cap numbers calculated? It comes from three numbers. The first number would be the league cap number.

All right? Earlier this year, the NFL owners and the NFLPA agreed that the floor for the 2021 salary cap will be $175 million, even if you had calculated the cap to be $125 million because there's hardly been any fans in the stadium and all that revenue you lose by selling jerseys and all that stuff. The floor is going to be next year, 175. So we heard this year, earlier this month from Ian Rappaport and Tom Pellisaro that the NFL and the NFLPA have agreed to make it a 17-game season in 2021. We're hearing more and more that the cap might not be $175,

but somewhere in the range of $180, $185. Let's just stick with $175 for now, all right? Because next month, we're going to hear the first official projection of the 2001 league cap number. I'm going to use $17 175 just for the sake of consistency. I've been using that until I hear the first, first, first, first, that's the number I'm going to use. All right.

Just for sake of consistency. Okay. So the first number that comes in is just a cap number. It's the lead cap number. That's $175 million. The second number that gets involved is the rollover. Like you said, right now I have the Patriots cap number around $19.7 million. All right?

But we know each week the Patriots lose cap space. All right? Because they have players earning not likely to be earned actor roster bonus, like players like Cam Newton, David Andrews, blah, blah, all those guys. All right? And then you have the practice squad elevations. Players are getting elevated from the practice squad. So when they get elevated, their salary goes from $8,400 a week to $32,000.

So that's cap space, all right? So that's 19-4. Okay, so I'm going to use 19-4 to keep it round, all right? Mike, and I have a $6 million adjustment, and I keep track of the incentives. I know we're going to talk about that later. And the Patriots are going to get credit, for example, for guaranteed salary paid to players they cut. For example, they're going to get a $2 million credit for Steven Gokoski. All right?

That $6 million adjustment is going to be in my numbers. It's not going to be in those other websites' numbers because the other websites, like Jason and Fitzgerald's, Over the Cap, and the other website that starts with the letter S, I'm not going to dignify that website because of what they do to Jason's website, so I'm not going to give them the full name, all right? I'm just going to use the letter S, all right?

They don't try to figure out what that adjustment is. I do. So right now, I have it as the Patriots adjusted cap number as $200.4 million. I have their cap commitments for 2021 as it stands now, as $140.5 million. That's a difference of $59.9 million. And that's before any cuts, trades, restructurings, any of that stuff. All right? And I'm assuming, and I'll say this, my number assumes that the Patriots are going to give a first-round tender to J.C. Jackson. I assume that the Patriots are going to give an ERFA tender to Jacob Johnson.

I'm assuming that. We won't find out for sure until days before the start of the league year in March. And I'll just say this, folks. The start of the 2021 league year is March 17th, all right? So we won't find out that until a couple of days before then, if those projections are true. The other websites probably won't add those numbers in until that becomes true. I'm just making, I feel it's a safe presumption that Jacob Johnson is going to get an EFRF tender. I think that J.C. Jackson is going to get a first-round tender instead of a second-round tender.

We'll talk about what I think that way. Because a first-round tender means you guarantee no one's going to come after him, if you give him a first-round tender. But let's say after in March, in January, they have that meeting, and they say the first official conference comes out to 180 to 185, all right? And we split the difference, and you say it's going to be 182.5. Add seven, that difference is that $7.5 million. That increases the cap space for the Patriots. And I'll say this. I know we were just talking about the cap space number, and as an aside, I'm of the opinion of the higher

the cap number, the better it is for the Patriots as opposed to a low number. I know some people in my timeline disagree, and I'll say why I think it's better is because you can get with more better is because you can get with more cap space, you can get more players signed. And because it just also helps you address the issue of, well, I can't, maybe a free agent won't sign here because the Patriots are bad. Well, Patriots free agents go where the money is. Higher the cap space, the more money you'll be able to spend on these people.

All right? So there's where we stand right now for 2021. And that's $60 million. That's before any cuts. That's before any retirements, any pay cuts, any extensions, all that. Patriots in good to great cap shape for 2021. That would have been better if there was no pandemic you know saying but here's what is all right i mean because this um yeah about this time last year

we would have we were talking about the pages we could have had like 100 million dollars in cap space this year that went away when the pandemic went away came up up, all right? Right. So I'll say this, folks. That salary cap that starts with the letter S, they say the Patriots have $72 million in cap space in 2021. Okay? Let's talk about where they're coming at, how they're coming at, why their number is wrong. They're saying right now, if you look at it,

they expect the Patriots to carry over $26 to $25 to $26 million. That's not right. And you don't have to take my word for it. Just go to NFLPA's public salary cap page. It'll tell you the Patriots right now have a cap space number around $20 million. All right? I have is 19 because I'm more up to,. Right now I do transactions as soon as it happens. It takes a couple of days for them to process Saturday's transactions.

All right? So the other site starts off with the wrong carryover number, and they only have 42 players on the Patriots roster. Right after the season, the Patriots are going to sign a whole bunch of players who are on the practice squad. I'm already presuming that. So that $72 million is going to drop on this site. It's going to drop once those signs get processed.

All right? That's what I'm going to address. I'm going to address that. Okay? Okay, so hopefully that answers the question, Mike. I think it does. I think it absolutely does. And I love the way you've been able to incorporate not only incentives, but also the fluctuation, also the impact of the pandemic and the national cap as well, which a lot of people forget.

They tend to think of the Patriots in more of a bubble rather than how the big picture affects everything. But you break it down and you break it down so well. And that kind of leads me nicely into my next question for you and that is you mentioned incentives especially the ltbe which are likely to be earned incentives and also the nltbe which are not likely to be earned incentives um but you know it really is the fluctuation of the cap number can be affected by that there's no question about it really really for all teams but you specialize on the patriots so that's where we're keeping our discussion today. And even though the Pats have all kinds of incentives that are earned through playing time, as well as some of these, you specifically called out Cam Newton's recently, stating that you believe he has to indeed play some snaps this Sunday against the Jets

in order to earn that $250,000 playing time incentive. Miguel, as a big picture type look, how do these incentives really work? And do you believe that any of these are going to either earned or unearned incentives will significantly impact what we see from the Patriots next year? I know you hinted at this a little bit in the previous response, but expound upon that a little bit, how you think these incentives could end up significantly or maybe insignificantly impacting the cap number this year for the Pats. Okay, let's just talk about Cam Newton.

I have no idea like Ted Johnson. I listened to, watched the show, the preview, the NBC Sports preview. He kept on hounding it's $2 million that Cam Newton had riding on the 80% plane. Cam, he, the Patriots do this tiered thing, all right? So, basically, he had eight different times, playing times in centers. He's right now, I have him like just under 80%. So, he has to play some snaps.

How much snaps? I don't know because I don't know how many snaps they're going to play in the Jets game. If they play like less than 50, he might not, he may get away with just playing 5 snaps. But if they play 80 snaps, he has to play something like 17 snaps. So I do, like I do, I think Bill said

in his interview yesterday that Cam Newton's going to start. So I think he's going to play at least 17 to 20 snaps and then they might pull him and now garren gets him the 80 percent and folks people have been asking me on my twitter line because they just pay him the money well when the patients did that in the past the lawrence guy and james white being the most recent examples those guys were signed for the next year.

So they were able to adjust that to the following year's contract to give that guy, the player, the money. They can't do that with Cam Newton because Cam Newton's not signed for next year, and I'm of the opinion that they're not going to sign him next year. I could be wrong, and maybe they do something in that contract to hook him up if he doesn't make the $250,000 incentive. I could be wrong about that. But as of now, there's no way.

He has to play to make that money. All right? As the incentives are affecting next year, I said it kind of helps the Patriots that some of the players that got hurt, Bo Allen, Julian Elliman, all right, didn't make their incentives. All right? So they lowered their cap number big time. All right?

For example, let's say Julian had stayed healthy, and he had made some of his incentives. Maybe he wouldn't have hit 100 receptions like he did in 2019, but he maybe got 80 receptions, all right? His receptions incentive still would have been considered likely to be earned in 2021 because he earned them in 2020. Now all of Julian Edelman's incentives are now considered not likely to be earned for 2021. So his cap number is ridiculously low. It's $6.1 million for 2021.

And then his cash, yeah, and his cash that he's due, it's just about $3.5 million. So the question then becomes for the Patriots, are you willing to pay Julian Elliman $3.5 million in cash? Is that money, is that your best use of resources of $3.5 million in cash? And then if he hits his, and let's say you keep him on the roster, and then he hits his incentives, that incentive will hit the cap in 2022. And you're not going to be, and then if he hits his incentives. That incentive will hit the cap in 2022. And then if he hits the incentives, you're going to be happy because he's got 50, 60, 80, 90, 100 balls and maybe make it to the pro ball.

And so the same thing happened with Bo Allen. None of his incentives, he had playing time incentives. Now they're all not likely to be earned for 2021, lowering his cap number to just over $3 million. There are not that many players on the team right as of right now who have incentives for 2021. You know what I'm saying? So, like, the players, I'm looking at my spreadsheet, Mike.

There's 64 incentives for this year, and I'm trying to think who is signed out of the players who have incentives. Wow. The only one who's still on the year, who's going to be, yeah. Jonathan Jones, Julian Elliman, Matthew Slater, Shaq Mason, and Shaq Mason are the only ones who have incentives for next year. Wow. And, I mean, I don't think Shaq Mason will ever get his incentives.

I mean, his incentives are Pro Bowl and All-Pro. I don't think he'll ever make them. Right. So, you know what I'm saying? But, yeah, so Jonathan Jones, he has playing time incentives. Matthew Slater has his Pro Bowl incentives. And what was the other guy said? Whatever.

Okay, let's move on. No, I think that, you know what, that was perfect in terms of incentives, in terms of how they work, and especially the impact for next year. Because, again, we're in uncharted territory here in New England. We're not used to talking about 2021 or the next calendar year this early in the playoff run. I mean, the Patriots right now, the playoffs are a non-existent hope for them. So at this point, we're all about 2021. And again, folks, this is why Miguel is on that very short list of being the best of the best on all things salary cap. That's why I call him the

great and powerful wizard of Benz on. He is powerful. He's not the man behind the curtain. He is the guy that's running the show. And, you know, next year on Locked On Patriots, we have a segment that is unique to this podcast. It's one of my favorites. It's one of Miguel's favorites. And it means that my good friend here is going to address all those salary cap myths floating around and set the record straight. And fear not, folks, we'll also talk about some of your favorite New England Patriots and what their fate might be for the 2021 season. Do not miss this next on the Locked On Patriots podcast.

Locked On listeners, are we ready for some football? Of course we are ready for some football. College football heading into the bowl season, and there are some big matchups on the horizon. NFL regular season is finishing up, and that playoff picture becomes clearer by the day there's only one place that has you covered and one place we trust bet online.ag sign up today for a free account at bet online.ag and use that promo code locked on for your 50 welcome bonus this weekend is the season finale for your New England Patriots in 2020

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and tag them with the hashtag betonline. Sign up for a free account and use the promo code LOCKEDON for your sign-up bonus. BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. Locked On listeners, Wednesday on Locked On NFL takes a deep dive into the future of your favorite NFL franchises. Tony Wiggins and James Rapian are joined every week by a Locked On draft expert to talk prospects in the upcoming draft and young NFL players fresh in the league.

Did your team have a big rookie performance this week? Or are they shaping up to have a premier draft pick in the 2021 NFL draft? Get everything you need Wednesdays on Locked On NFL. 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 again, folks, insight you can only find here on Locked On Patriots. And we appreciate Miguel choosing Locked On Patriots as his vehicle to bring you all this great information.

And Miguel, you've eloquently broken down a potential Patriots offseason cap situation, both when it comes to the big picture nature of the NFL salary cap, how it affects the Patriots, and also how incentives are going to impact not only the remainder of this year, but into next year. But one of my favorite parts of having you join me here on the pod, my friend, is your ability to identify some of those erroneous cap reports out there. Your infinite wisdom is always on target, and you either confirm or debunk them as only you can. And we also

appreciate that you dropped some exclusive pearls of wisdom that can only be found here on Locked On Patriots. Buddy, there's a lot of speculation on players like Joe Tooney, Stephon Gilmore, JC Jackson, even Dante Hightower's potential return from the opt-out. There's an uncertain future when it comes to their future

in New England. But the floor is yours. Not only are we asking you to set the record straight to close us out here, but some of the more high-profile Patriots, like the ones I've mentioned, what can we expect to see in 2021 when it comes to their future in the Patriots' uniform and how it relates to the salary cap? Okay, let's get the easy one out of the way. Joe Tooney's tag number. Folks, when a player is tagged for the second time,

the tag number is 120% of his previous year's cap number. So no matter what happens with the cap, if it goes down to $175 million, $180 million, $185 million, Joe Tooney's tag number will be $17.7 million, which is a 20% increase over what his tag number this year, which was $14.781 million. I've seen it. People think it's going to be because the offensive line projection has gone down to about $13.5 million. People say that's going to be Joe Tooney's tag number. Folks, that is wrong. And I'll say this once again. Folks, once the tag is placed on the player, that cap number counts against the cap. It does not matter if the player has not signed it. People have said, I don't know why beat writers say this.

They only count the cap number. The tag number only counts when the player signs it. That is wrong. All right? It happened three times last year. Three different beat writers on the Patriots beat said that last year. You know what I'm saying? And people keep on saying that about the Joe Tooney tag number.

That part is wrong. Okay? Do I think Joe Tooney is going to get tagged next year? No, all right? Do I think he's going to get signed next year? I don't think so because he's going to get paid, all right? He's going to get paid. And I think the Patriots are going to decide,

let me roll with O'Hanley, let's roll with Justin Heron, and if those guys don't work out at a guy position, I can get someone way cheaper than Joe Tooney. I think Joe Tooney is signing someplace for at least $15 million a year. All right? So that's one thing I want to screw away. Let's just talk about the big players now. Let's talk about Stephon Gilmore.

All right? Stephon Gilmore, and I keep on getting asked, his cap number next year is $16.3 million, all right? No matter what, if he's on the roster or not, he's got a signing preparation of about $8.9 million. The question then becomes, do you sign him to a long-term deal, all right? And what type of deal do you sign him to a long-term deal? And what type of deal do you sign him to? Jeff Howell from The Athletic proposed a two-year deal where they paid him $36 million over the three years.

So about $36 million. I love Jeff Howell's work, all right? But why would Stephon Gilmore, who signed in 2017, signed a five-year deal for $65 million, so an average result of $13 million in new money, agree to a pay cut? Jeff is actually proposing a pay cut for Stephon Gilmore, all right? I wouldn't even take it. I wouldn't even offer Stephon Gilmore a pay cut for Stephon Gilmore. All right? I'm like, I wouldn't take it. I wouldn't even take it. I wouldn't even offer Stephon Gilmore a pay cut.

Like, I wouldn't even need that. I would have to at least pay him. I would have to give him a raise. You know what I'm saying? If he's making $15 million a year, it was his old deal. The QCOT offered him in 2021. I know he's older, but the market for his top, the elite cornerbacks has gone way up than it was in 2017.

So I wouldn't offer him a pay cut. All right? So, but the question, and then the other problem I had with Jeff's proposal was it didn't even match what Darius Slay was getting. Okay? Darius Slay is the closest comp to Stefan Gomer in that he was 29 years old when he signed his deal.

All right? Darius Slay got in his first three years of his deal, got $43 million. Jeff was suggesting that Stefan would sign for a deal for $36 million, $7 million left in Darius Slade. And I think if you're going to sign Stefan Gilmore, it's going to be way close. It can't be $14.5 million of new money. It's going to be closer to $18 million, $20 million, that kind of number.

And that means if you do that, that means you're not really – if you do that, his cap numbers are still – you're not going to really get that much cap savings in the deal, but at least you have him signed. All right? But I don't – so that's what I want to address, that idea that you could – and Jeff said, well, the whole players can't hold out as much. And it's true.

It's way harder than this new CBA to hold out as much. It doesn't mean you still – still players will just accept it. You know what I'm saying? Like maybe you'll think – like Stephon Gilman, I think I said this in a private he only attended the off-season workouts he only attended the ones he had to okay all right like i think i said that before in a prior appearance all right and if you haven't if you never listened to that so that's kind of a he only attended the ones he had to everyone else earned like eight thousand dollars

an off-season workout bonus money stephon gilmore just earned like, let me look it up again. He just earned like $940. He said, I'm only attending four. Before I need to, everyone else, they got all their money. So all their money, like every veteran pretty much got $8,460 in off-season workout bonus money. Stephon Gilmore just got $940. He said, I ain't volunteering to show up.

You guys ain't paying me money. You try to trade me. I ain't showing up. It's voluntary. So let's say for Dante, so let's move on to Dante Hotower. And there's a great question today on Twitter. They're asking me about what we do with the opt-outs and their incentives. All right.

And I said this on Twitter, and I should have saved this just for the podcast only, right? That's okay. No, that's good. You get the opportunity to expound upon it. That's the way I look at it. Okay. So, basically, I ask great questions like, Stephon Gilmore and Marcus Cannon have incentives in their deal. All right does Patrick Chung, the three opt-outs who have incentives in their deal.

And the question is, how are they expecting it? How are they handling it? Right now, I'm considering them as likely to be earned because that's what happened with Le'Veon Bell in 2019. Le'Veon Bell, for whatever reason, I never understood why he sat out 2018. All right? He sat out 2018. In 2019 contract, he had a $500,000 likely to be earned incentive based on what he did in 2017. So I'm assuming that's going to, I'm projecting, assuming, presuming, whatever, that's going to happen, the same thing with the opt-outs.

I am waiting to hear to get the clarification on that. I might not get a clarification on that until March, all right? But as of now, so I'm including that, for example, Dante Ahaitao, he has $1.125 million in incentives. I'm carrying that against the cap. So that makes his cap number about $12.3 million. All right? But if he decides to leave the Patriots and says,

I ain't playing anymore, I'm done, opting out, I lost my taste for football for whatever reason, all right? That's about $9 million in cap savings for the Patriots. Yeah. football for whatever reason. That's about $9 million in cap savings for the Patriots. I personally don't think that he's going to be on the roster week one at the $12.3 million. I think he could retire,

or he could extend his deal, or agree to a pay cut with a chance to make up the money in incentives. I don't know. I'm confident he won't be – he won't be on the roster week one at $12.3 million. I don't know how – I don't know exactly how it's going to change. That's why I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the offseason. Yeah, absolutely.

Okay. The Patriots don't really have a lot of guys that have a lot of big cap numbers. The next – we addressed the third one. The third player who has a cap over $10 million is Devin McCourty. All right. I think he's coming – I'm pretty sure he is coming back. All right. Right now, his cap number would be $11.15 million

but Mike it would drop if he's not active for the Jets game for example we heard he's not hurt let's say Devin McCourty that's the really weird thing about the cap

if Devin McCourty isn't active for the jets game that helps the patriots cap space in 2021 in two ways one way the first way is that the patriots will get a credit on the 2021 cap because they expected to pay out 16 actor ross bonuses for devon mccourty all right so they got a credit on the cap for the money he did not earn. And then his 2021 cap number will decrease

because he wasn't active for one game. Interesting. So he makes $62,000 every time he's active for a game. $62,500.

So that's $125,000. If he isn't active for the Jets game, that increases the Patriots' salary cap space number by $125,000. Wow. Yeah. So it's like, holy cow. So it's like that $59.5 million, like that's just for this week. I said to one of my followers from Spain, don't bookmark that number.

And every time I tweet out the number, it's going to change, and there's a reason it's going to change next week because of the fact that the roster who's active for the Jets game will affect the 2021 cap number. You know what I'm saying? If they don't have Devin McCourty active, then that helps the Patriots salary cap space. Same thing,

I'll say this, and I'll just circle back to Cam Newton. People are saying why we just don't have him active and we can save cap space on him. Well, Cam Newton, as bad as he has been, all right, his cap number over the two years he's going to be on the cap,

2020, 2021, his total cap impact is less than $4 million. Yeah. All right. That's a bargain for a starting quarterback, a veteran quarterback. And even if you say, say well he's been bad even if you say he's bad I think he's been bad my wife will tell you how

I just can't believe when he skips a throw what I'm saying I can't repeat that in public nor here on Locked On Patriots, folks. We are a family show, and Miguel appreciates that. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate your restraint and your temperance today.

That is still, his play this year is still worth the $4 million. It's still worth more than the $4 million he's going to hit in the cap. All right. So $4 million. It's still worth more than $4 million he's going to hit in the cap. I think we wanted to talk about the free agents on the team. Do you want to go through all the free agents?

With time restraints, I think what we'll do is we'll probably bring you back here on Locked On Patriots to start to go through a lot of the roster and what we have available. When you look at it, in terms of players that we haven't mentioned yet, who's catching your sharp eye Miguel, to close it out today and to bring it all home, who's catching your sharp eye on this roster right now that might be the one to watch that could either put the

Patriots in a good position if he doesn't come back, or might put the Patriots in a good position if... For me, they've got to sign a defensive tackle. So they've got to sign either Lawrence Guy, who's 30 years old, or Adam Butler, who's 26 years old. I go with the younger guy. All right, Zane. As for people who's going to leave the team, wow.

I mean, they get so many easy. It really depends on who opts in and opts out. I'm saying, like, I know. Good point. My man Murph's Brandon Bolton's coming back, all right, and his, you know, saying that's going to be, folks, that's good news. I think it's good news for the special teams. I'd be worried now for the guys who have a special teams focus

about the Brandon Bolden coming back. So, like, maybe a Terrence Brooks, Cody Davis. I'd be worried about them. I don't think they're coming back now. If Brandon Bowden's coming back, like, I had him and Cody Davis as a maybe coming back. Now I don't think he's coming back on this team. 31 years old as a safety. I don't think he's coming back on this team. 31 years old as a safety, I don't think he's coming back.

You got Brandon Bolden who's coming back. I think there's a replacement. You always got to undraft him as the agent. I know we got to restrict it for time. I just want to say, everyone, happy new year. Hope the 2022 and 2021 will be a much better year for you. And go Patriots. I still, it is what, I'm, it cracks me up.

Like, we've been spoiled. I'm good, you know what I'm saying? I never thought they wouldn't six. So I've been spoiled. We've been spoiled. We have been up here in New England, no question about it. And one thing that we continue to be spoiled with is with your wisdom and counsel, my friend. You're always a class act. You always bring the wisdom and counsel

the way only you can. And you never disappoint. I could not be more honored, more humbled to have you as a regular guest here on Locked On Patriots. That's why I call him the Top Gun, folks. He is the Top Gun. That plaque for the alternates does not exist. He is the only one

that can do what he does, and there is just no equal in any walk of life. You're a great man, you're a great analyst of the salary cap, and I, for one, cannot wait to have you back on here on Locked on Patriots very soon, where we start to go through that list of free agents and that list of Patriots

holdovers and start to weed out exactly what it means for the Patriots salary cap. So stay locked into locked on Patriots folks, because Miguel will be back soon to discuss all of that. In the meantime, my friend, thank you so much for joining me today. Stay safe,

stay well, a blessed, happy new year to you and your family. And again, we can't wait to have you back here on locked on Patriots. I can't wait to be on. I love coming on this show. Absolutely love it.

And we love having you, and we could not be more appreciative of your support, my friend. Take care. Enjoy the rest of the holiday week, and we'll be talking to you real soon. And so, Patriots fans, with that, we are three down and one to go here on this shortened holiday week on Locked on Patriots,

but we've saved the best for the streams, as in crossing the streams. Tomorrow here on the pod, we bring you a special New Year's Eve edition of Crossover Thursday. Myself and John Buchko, host of the Locked On Jets podcast, will preview Sunday's matchup from Foxborough. So to ensure that you do not miss a single second of the action, download and subscribe to the Locked On Patriots podcast on platforms such as Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.

Just make sure that you're staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend 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 making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, folks, stay safe, stay well, continue to be the change you wish to see in the world.

Have a great day, everyone.