Brian McIntyre continues his series on the salary cap outlook for each NFL team today, with the Patriots in the spotlight.
McIntyre's work, appearing on the Yahoo! Sports "Shutdown Corner" blog, draws attention to the Patriots' roster as it relates to the cap.
McIntyre points out that the team's adjusted salary cap number is $129.152 million (13th in the NFL in 2013) and the club currently has $9.782 million remaining (10th in the NFL, as of July 31).
McIntyre picks players for the following categories:
Best bargain: TE Rob Gronkowski
Potential cap casualty: TE Daniel Fells
Looming contract issue: CB Aqib Talib
He also looks ahead to 2014 and how the club projects to be tight to the cap, in part because of $7.5 million in dead money from Aaron Hernandez.
"The Patriots have 68 players under contract for the 2014 season with the 'Top 51' cap numbers (which are applied against the cap during the offseason) currently totaling just under $115 million. After releasing tight end Aaron Hernandez when he was arrested and then charged with first-degree murder, the Patriots will also have to carry $7.5 million in cap charges as the prorated amounts of Hernandez's signing bonus from the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons have accelerated onto the team's 2014 cap. With $122.5 million in cap commitments, you can count the Patriots among the teams who wouldn't mind seeing the new TV money kick in next offseason."
To read the piece, CLICK HERE.