Why keep the cap space?

Could spending the cap have stopped this? (Dilip Vishwanat)

Following Monday's embarrassing loss, people began to ask serious questions. One such question is why do the Patriots have $14.1 million in cap space when the roster clearly is missing some form of an upgrade. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe wrote a piece concerning this issue. Currently, the team is taking cap hits for Aaron Hernandez ($7.5 million) and former players that were traded or cut ($8 million). With issues in almost every phase of the game, clearly help is needed, so why are the Patriots sitting put?

One explanation came from Robert Kraft. Kraft stated that the cap space "is a higher number than we would usually have at this time of year." Expanding upon this Kraft notes that certain players have play-time and performance incentives that aren't accounted for in the current cap figures. Such players include Vince Wilfork (max of $3 million in incentives), Sebastian Vollmer (max of $2 million in incentives), and Jerod Mayo (max of $300k in incentives).

The Boston Globe piece, in my opinion is a bit unrealistic with its expectations of who the Patriots could have brought in during the offseason to make an impact. Many of the players they listed were expensive veterans who have underwhelmed so far this year, or draft picks who have yet to make an impact on their current team. So if they couldn't sign someone or draft someone with the cap space, what other reason could there be?

One possible reason for keeping so much cap room could be to be able to absorb contract extensions for the numerous players that have expiring contracts. These players include Stephen Gostowski, Devin McCourty, Shane Vereen, Stevan Ridley, and Marcus Cannon. Most of these players are on rookie contracts, making them very cheap at this point in time. Should the Patriots re-sign them midseason, their cap hits would likely increase as well. This could be one potential reason for the unused cap space.

Another potential reason could be that they hope to carry over the remaining cap into next year. In this case it could also be to re-sign players, such as Darrelle Revis, or add potential big name free agents next year, like Ndamukong Suh, Damryius Thomas, Dez Bryant, Randall Cobb, Jeremy Maclin, Jordan Cameron, Julius Thomas, Mike Iupati, Anthony Spencer, Stephen Paea, Gerald McCoy, Rey Maualuga, Justin Houston, and Brandon Flowers. The additional cap, combined with the alleviation of the Aaron Hernandez cap hit could make the Patriots big contenders in free agency, something they haven't been able to do in the past.

That said, the product that the Patriots have put on the field is simply unacceptable. I'm not going to bury the Patriots just yet though. The team is still full of talent, maybe not elite talent, but definitely enough to start winning games the way we are used to seeing. Next week will be a true test to this team, and if they falter again, it could be time to start exploring trade options. It is a long season, and we are only four games in, don't jump ship quite yet.

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