The devil is in the details. And this is where you can find them.
Matthew Slater
2 years, up to $5.5M | $2.375M fully guaranteed.
Source(s): The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin, Miguel Benzan - @PatsCap
2020
Salary: $1.6M — fully guaranteed
Roster bonus proration (Due on 3/18/2020): $375,000
Per-game bonuses: $400,000 — $25,000 per game
Pro Bowl Incentive: $100,000 LTBE (likely to be earned)
Cap hit: $2,475,000
2021
Salary: $1.75M
2020 Roster bonus proration: $375,000
2021 Roster Bonus: $400,000
Per-game bonuses: $400,000 — $23,529 per game
Pro Bowl Incentive: $100,000
Cap hit: $3,025,000
The 2008 fifth-round pick and perennial Pro Bowl special teamer is back on the kind of two-year deal that we’ve come to expect to see ironed out the two sides. With Tom Brady leaving Foxborough, Slater becomes the second-longest tenured player on the roster behind only Stephen Gostkowski.
Devin McCourty
2 years, $23M | $17M in total guarantees | $13M fully guaranteed at signing
Source: MMQB’s Albert Breer
2020
Salary: $2.25M — fully guaranteed
Signing bonus proration: $2.15M
Per-game bonuses: $1M — $62,500 per game
Cap hit: $5,400,000
2021
Salary: $8M — ($4M of which becomes guaranteed on the third day of the 2021 league year)
Signing bonus proration: $2.15M
Per-game bonuses: $1M — $58,824 per game
Cap hit: $11,150,000
2022
Cap hit: $6,450,000 (dead money)
Tight to the cap, the Patriots tacked three void years onto the end of this two-year deal to spread out the impact of the ten-year vet’s $10.75M signing bonus. The 2022-2024 years of the deal will automatically void on the last day of the 2021 league year, creating a $6.45M dead cap charge in 2022.
Damiere Byrd
1 year, up to $2.25M | $350K fully guaranteed at signing
Source: ESPN’s Field Yates
2020
Salary: $675,000
Signing bonus: $350,000
Incentives: $900,000 — based on receptions (classifying as NLTBE until we hear otherwise)
Cap hit: $1,350,000
Reminiscent of last year’s Dontrelle Inman signing, Byrd — also a former UDFA — get’s a modest bonus ($350K) and an opportunity to compete for a spot in New England’s 2020 wide receiver room.
Adrian Phillips
2 years, $6M and up to $7.5M | $3M fully guaranteed.
Source(s): ESPN’s Mike Reiss
2020
Salary: $1.25M ($1M guaranteed)
Signing bonus proration: $750,000
Per-game bonuses: $500,000 — $31,250 per game (LTBE for 7 games)
Incentives: $750,000 (Unspecified — will classify as NLTBE until we hear otherwise)
Cap hit: $2,218,750
2021
Salary: $2.25M ($500K guaranteed)
Signing bonus proration: $750,000
Per-game bonuses: $500,000 — $29,412 per game
Incentives: $750,000 (Unspecified)
Cap hit: $3,500,000
With the ‘Big Nickel’ package installed as the team’s base look on defense on over the past few seasons, and with the departure of Duron Harmon, the addition of a dependable hybrid defender like Phillips is another example of how the Patriots bolster the “middle class” of their cap sheet with guys who can bring value in multiple ways. Phillips not only adds special teams prowess and box defender depth behind an aging Patrick Chung, but he also gives Bill Belichick the ability to match bigger offensive personnel groupings with a lighter, more athletic look without the significant drop in run game pop that you’d typically expect when removing a linebacker from the mix.
The $3M in guarantees — particularly the $500,000 in 2021 guaranteed salary, which would create a dead money cap hit of $1.25M if he were cut next year — shows that the team views Phillips as far more than a back-end of the roster guy.
Brian Hoyer
1 year, $1.05M
Source(s): ESPN’s Mike Reiss
2020
Salary: $1.05M
Cap hit: $1,050,000
Pretty cut and dry here. The Colts guaranteed Hoyer $2M this season, with offset language. So, the Patriots will be paying him a salary of $1.05M in 2020 — the lowest amount possible for a player with 10+ credited seasons — and the Colts will be paying the other $950,000. Because of that salary that the Colts will be paying, Hoyer’s deal does not qualify as a minimum salary benefit deal.
Update, 3/25: According to The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin, Hoyer’s deal also includes $2M in unspecified, NLTBE playing time incentives.
Brandon Copeland
1 year, $1.0475M | $137,500 guaranteed
Source(s): ESPN’s Mike Reiss
2020
Salary: $910,000
Signing bonus: $137,500
Cap hit: $887,500
The former Jets linebacker inks a deal that qualifies for the minimum salary benefit. He’ll earn the minimum salary for a player with four credited seasons ($910K) and no more than $140K in additional compensation. The Patriots’ cap will be charged the salary of a player with two credited seasons ($750K) plus the additional $137,500 in compensation, which comes in the form of a signing bonus. If cut, the $137,500 will remain on the Patriots’ cap as dead money.
Cody Davis
1 year, $1.5M | $300,000 guaranteed
Source(s): The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin
2020
Salary: $1.1M ($200,000 guaranteed)
Signing bonus: $100,000
Per-game bonuses: $300,000 — $18,750 per game (LTBE for all 16 games in 2020)
Cap hit: $1,500,000
The undrafted veteran special teamer heading into his eighth NFL season receives $300K in total guarantees, and offers a bit of a discount from the just-under-$3M cap hit Nate Ebner carried a year ago.
Beau Allen
2 years, $7M and up to $8M | $2.75M fully guaranteed.
Source(s): The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin
2020
Salary: $1.3M ($1.05M guaranteed)
Signing bonus proration: $850,000
Per-game bonuses: $900,000 — $56,250 per game (LTBE for 13 games - cap charge)
Incentives: $500,000 (unspecified — will classify as NLTBE until we hear otherwise)
Cap hit: $2,881,250
2021
Salary: $2.2M
Signing bonus proration: $850,000
Per-game bonuses: $900,000 — $52,941 per game
Incentives: $500,000 (unspecified)
Cap hit: $3,950,000
With Danny Shelton getting $4M guaranteed in Detroit this season, the Patriots get a bit of a discount at their early-down IDL role in 2020 with the signing of Allen, who has been active for 90 of 96 possible games since the Eagles drafted him in the seventh round out of Wisconsin. His $850,000 signing bonus proration in 2021 — which would remain on the team’s cap if he were to be cut — won’t be enough to ensure he sees both year’s of this deal, his release still would create $3.1M in cap space. He’ll have to earn year-two of this pact.
Dan Vitale
1 year, $1.3M | $100,000 guaranteed
Source(s): ESPN’s Mike Reiss, The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin, and @Patscap
2020
Salary: $1M
Signing bonus: $100,000
Per-game bonuses: $200,000 — $12,500 per game (LTBE for 15 games - $187,500 cap charge)
Cap hit: $1,287,500
It was only a matter of time until the Patriots sought out the gritty 2016 former sixth-rounder out of Northwestern. He’s likely just a camp body behind a returning James Develin, but the two are not of the same mold, with Vitale having a bit more versatility in the passing game.
Shilique Calhoun
1 year, $1.5M | $$250,000 guaranteed
Source(s): The Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson
2020
Salary: $1M
Signing bonus: $250,000
Per-game bonuses: $250,000 — $15,625 per game (LTBE for 15 games - $234,375 cap charge)
Cap hit: $1,484,375
The former Michigan State Spartan participated in 26.37% of the team’s defensive snaps in 2019, including one start. Clahoun joins John Simon and Chase Winovich as edge defenders with one year of experience in New England’s system. Derek Rivers and Brandon Copeland round out the group thus far, assuming Dont’a Hightower plays a bit more inside in 2020.
We’ll be continually updating this page with any Patriots contract details that are made publicly available throughout the offseason, so go ahead and bookmark it!