Patriots lose less than $ 5 million in space limit when rehiring Cam Newton

Shortly after news that the New England Patriots had re-signed quarterback Cam Newton with a one-year contract, the initial details of the deal began to revolve around it. The first such report had the value of the “about $ 14 million” pact, but lacked additional information to determine the correctness of the salary cap, guarantees and other important details.

Looking for those like reported by Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, it becomes clear that the $ 14 million is far from the impact of the actual ceiling on Newton’s business. In fact, his contract will reach the Patriots’ accounts at just $ 4.91 million – the league’s 31st largest cap among quarterbacks.

Newton’s business has a base value of $ 5 million and can be divided as follows:

• $ 2 million signing bonus
• Base salary of $ 1.5 million
• $ 1.5 million list bonus per game
• $ 9 million incentives

Although Newton’s signing bonus and base salary are fully guaranteed and therefore counting on the Patriots’ salary cap, their per game bonuses are not yet entirely in the team’s books: Newton lost a contest in 2020 after a positive test for Coronavirus, which means that only $ 1.41 million of the $ 1.5 million bonus – the value of 15 games – is considered likely to be won this season.

This 16th game, in turn, falls into the “unlikely to be won” category: the $ 93,750 that is worth counting only for the Patriots’ books if Newton reaches the required parameter. This means that only if he is active for 16 games during the regular season of 2020, the New England salary cap will have to absorb the $ 93,750 bonus.

In the meantime, their additional $ 9 million incentives cannot impact the Patriots’ 2021 cap – they only become relevant for 2022 if met.

How are these incentives? While no full details are available, they are likely linked to individual awards, such as Pro Bowl, All-Pro or MVP selections, and playoff success. Newton did not achieve any of these in 2020, which means that these bonuses are also unlikely to be earned.

For Newton to reach the full value of his contract, he would therefore have to play at the MVP level while leading the Patriots for a Super Bowl victory. At the very least, his deal still gives New England some solid value for a well-respected veteran with considerable experience as a starter.

Adding Newton’s contract to the equation (but not Trent Brown’s or Justin Bethel’s) gives the Patriots a salary cap of $ 60.37 million, according to Miguel Benzan.