Zip's Page
A top Patriot Fan Site since 1996 - Oldest on the Web!
Winner of the 2001 Patriots Fan of the Year Award!

Latest News:

Pats hold mini-camp to indoctrinate rookie and free agents to the program.

Pats sign 16 Undrafted Free Agents

Pats acquire the rights to 10 Draft picks!

Pats reportedly still in the market for a Veteran Receiver and Veteran Offensive Lineman

There are three categories for free agency within the NFL: Unrestricted Free Agents, Restricted Free Agents and Exclusive Rights Players.

Unrestricted Free Agents

These players may sign with any team during the Free Agency Period.  I have arranged them in order of my opinion of their significance to the Patriots.

FS - Tebucky Jones - Trade to New Orleans
FB - Marc Edwards
CB - Terrell Buckley
S - Je'rod Cherry
S -Victor Green - Hold Right to Match any Offer
S - Chris Hayes
S - Rob Kelly
TE - Fred Baxter
TE - Cam Cleeland
DE - Bernard Holsey
DE - Rick Lyle
C - Grey Ruegamer

Restricted Free Agents

These players may sign an offer sheet with any team but if the Patriots have tended them a contract offer, the Patriots would have the right to match the offer as well as the awarding of compensation from the new team.  The compensation is determined by the value of the tender offer provided initially by the Patriots.

CB - Ben Kelly - tendered offer
LB - Matt Chatham - tendered offer
FB - Patrick Pass - tendered offer
LS - Lonie Paxton - RE-Signed

Exclusive Rights Players

These players are not under contract with the Patriots but are exclusively restricted such that they may only sign with the Patriots until and unless the team waive's rights to them.

OT - Stephen Neal
OT - Tom Ashworth
WR - Fred Coleman
OT - Matt Knutson
LB - Mauguala Tuitele

Additions

LB Rosevelt Colvin (Chicago Bears)
SS Rodney Harrison (San Diego Chargers)
CB Tyrone Poole (Denver Broncos)
FB Fred McCrary (San Diego Chargers)
S Chris Akins (Cleveland Browns)
P Daniel Pope
FB Jermaine Frezande  

Additions via the Undrafted Free Agency:
DE Kevin Watson 6'4" 285 4.8
RB Derek Watson 6' 223 4.63
WR Michael Hayes  6'4" 213 4.68
LB Chad Lee 6'1 255 4.92 189 
DE Buck Rasmussen 6'4" 280 
WR Dan Stricker WR 6'1 200 4.62 
WR Kerry Watkins 5'10" 180 
LB Matt Word 5'11" 235  4.7
OG Kyle Croskey 6' 3" 330 lbs 5.45
S    Chris Massey 6-0 215 4.65
CB Recklan Holmes-Miller 5-10 196 4.52
WR Chas Gessner 6-5 215 4.8
S Shawn Mayer  6-0 192  4.70
S Scott Farley 6-0 202 4.65

Losses

FS Tebucky Jones (New Orleans Saints)
CB Terrell Buckley (Miami Dolphins)
WR Donald Hayes (Jacksonville Jaguars)
TE Cameron Cleeland (St. Louis Rams)
RT Greg Robinson-Randall (Houston Texans)
C Grey Ruegamer (Green Bay Packers)

Players Re-signed Kept:
LS    Lonnie Paxton - Story
CB Ben Kelly
DT Rick Lyle
S Je'Rod Cherry
TE Fred Baxter
LB Maugaula Tuitele
OT Tom Ashworth

Available

The options and needs have been vastly addressed already.  On June 2nd a new wave of free agents will become available and this may cause some additional movement.

Salary Cap Status

Current Cap Estimation: I recommend Miguel's Cap page Miguel at Patsfans.com runs the Essential Patriots Salary Cap Guideline (Unofficial).  At which he states: "According to my figures the Patriots are $5,124,825 UNDER the Patriots 2003's adjusted cap figure of $74,607,037 with 84 players signed or tendered. I have the Patriots' 2003 cap figure as $69,482,212. According to ESPN.Com's John Clayton, the Pats were under the cap by $4.8 million on 5/1 so my numbers are off by $324,825."

Rules and Ramblings:

What's the difference between Exclusive Rights, UFA and RFA?
An unrestricted free agent may sign with absolutely any team - no restrictions. The only benefit the previous team has with an unrestricted free agent is that they may sign them before the contract officially expires - and thus before other teams may negotiate with the player. These are players with five or more accrued seasons OR four or more accrued seasons in years with the Salary Cap. A restricted free agent has at least three years of accrued seasons and less than five years. This group has fewer benefits than the veteran of 4/5 years who is termed unrestricted. With a restricted free agent there are two principle restrictions that benefit the team. The first is the right to match any offer and thus keep the player. The second is the compensatory package which stipulates that any team signing a restricted free agent from another team must provide compensatory draft picks in accordance with the qualifying offer that was issued by the original team. The Qualifying offers have a chart (sorry I do not) which indicates what compensation is required for the various QO. At 1.4M/year, the compensation is the first and third round selections of the team signing away the RFA. A veteran with less than three accrued seasons with an expiring contract is termed an Exclusive Rights player. Until 3/1 they may only negotiate with their prior club. After that period they become Unrestricted Free Agents.

What is the Salary Cap?
   In the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL player's association and the NFL ownership, a Salary Cap was instituted which stipulates the total player salary that may paid by a team for a single year. The 2003 NFL Salary Cap is $75,007,000.  For 1997, that value was roughly 41 Million per year. As a result of the recent Television contracts, the NFL is expected to raise the '98 Cap to roughly 53 Million per year. Rookie's operate off a special cap which greatly restricts their initial contract signings in the league. I am seeking information on that value which I believe to be adjusted based on the draft position but averaging roughly 2M/year for each team. 
   The salary cap is the absolute maximum each club may spend on player salaries in a capped year. For 1999, that amount to 63% of league-wide “Defined Gross Revenues” (divided by 31 teams), made up of preseason, regular season and post season gate receipts and radio and television rights.
   The cap is in effect 365 days a year. From February 12 to the day before the season begins, a club’s top 51 salaried players count towards the cap, plus pro-rated signing bonuses, incentives, etc., but not base salaries of the players on the roster up to 80. Thereafter, all salaries on a club’s roster count towards the cap. The maximum salary cap for 1999 is $57,288,000 per club. The minimum salary cap is $48, 040,000. Player benefits are $7,445,000 per club above the salary cap number.

What is the Patriots Salary Cap Status?
The New England Patriots are roughly 3.5 Million under their cap as of March 1, 2003.  This is an excellent cap situation although there is likely a rework coming for Tom Brady which will change this fact..

Other questions? I'll try to answer them all and post the answers here.

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