New England Patriots Players/Roster Salaries and Contracts 2015: The New England Patriots are the Super Bowl Champions, a team that has won five Super Bowls since 2001. Maintaining such a team while keeping in mind the salary cap is a huge task. The Patriots’ schedule, along with their State Run Media followers, has recently led people to believe that they might actually be on the verge of insolvency. Yet, the entire situation is quite sceptical. Having used about 82% of their salary cap last season, they do have a cap space of $16 million approx to save them from insolvency.
As on October 1, the New England Patriots had $120 million in commitments to 57 of their players. The NFL salary cap has been set up to $143 million this year by the NFLPA. Apart from this, the Patriots do have a carryover cap amount of $6 million. But, it’s likely to be earned as incentives from adjustments that had amounted to a negative $4.5 million, further reducing its cap space. Major sponsors this season for the Patriots at the Gillette stadium are Gillette, Bank of America, EMC, Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo and Verizon.
It is theorized that the Patriots have benefited majorly from Aaron Hernandez’s grievances settlement. The patriots received a credit of $1.184 million for the grievance settlement as an incentive. This helps in increasing the gap in the salary cap amount.
Another key aspect is the renewal of Rob Gronkowski’s contract of $56 million over the next four years. They guaranteed Gronkowski’s $4.75 million salary and $250,000 off-season workout bonus in February. Gronkowski is one of the highest paid players of the New England Patriots.
Apart from that, the restructuring of Jerod Mayo’s contract this year has played a major role in balancing out the cap space for the Patriots. Mayo’s old cap number amounted roughly to $10 million, making him the second-highest paid inside linebacker. This season, his cap number has been cut down to $6.25 million with an incentive of $4.5 million for injuries. Apart from this, Mayo is to receive a signing bonus of $3.6 million which can be prorated by him over the season and an additional bonus of $5, 00,000 if he plays all 16 games. This is major strategizing on the Patriot’s part.
Tom Brady received his final instalment of $30 million in February as an amount of his signing bonus that had been guaranteed to him.
The overall New England Patriots roster so far with the players average salary and contract terms is as follows:
New England Patriots Player/Roster salaries and contracts: | |||
| Player Name | Age | Average Salary | Contract Expiration |
| Rob Gronkowski | 26 | $9,000,000 | 2020 |
| Devin McCourty | 28 | $9,500,000 | 2020 |
| Tom Brady | 38 | $9,000,000 | 2018 |
| Nate Solder | 27 | $10,031,000 | 2018 |
| Stephen Gostkowski | 31 | $4,300,000 | 2019 |
| Julian Edelman | 29 | $4,250,000 | 2018 |
| Sebastian Vollmer | 31 | $4,187,500 | 2017 |
| Danny Amendola | 29 | $4,250,000 | 2018 |
| Jabaal Sheard | 26 | $5,500,000 | 2017 |
| Brandon LaFell | 28 | $3,000,000 | 2017 |
| Marcus Cannon | 27 | $4,500,000 | 2017 |
| Patrick Chung | 28 | $2,733,333 | 2018 |
| Chandler Jones | 25 | $2,043,138 | 2017 |
| Dont’a Hightower | 25 | $1,931,001 | 2017 |
| Malcolm Brown | 21 | $1,903,307 | 2019 |
| Dominique Easley | 22 | $1,825,887 | 2018 |
| Rob Ninkovich | 31 | $3,500,000 | 2017 |
| Ryan Wendell | 29 | $3,425,000 | 2016 |
| Ryan Allen | 25 | $1,833,333 | 2019 |
| Scott Chandler | 30 | $2,650,000 | 2017 |
| Jerod Mayo | 29 | $4,500,000 | 2018 |
| Alan Branch | 30 | $2,150,000 | 2017 |
| Tavon Wilson | 25 | $1,052,096 | 2016 |
| Matthew Slater | 30 | $2,000,000 | 2017 |
| Jon Bostic | 24 | $985,200 | 2017 |
| Jamie Collins | 25 | $940,250 | 2017 |
| Jordan Richards | 22 | $927,887 | 2019 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo | 23 | $870,975 | 2018 |
| Aaron Dobson | 24 | $857,093 | 2017 |
| Geno Grissom | 23 | $715,488 | 2019 |
| Trey Flowers | 22 | $709,733 | 2019 |
| Tre’ Jackson | 22 | $700,935 | 2019 |
| Logan Ryan | 24 | $693,313 | 2017 |
| Shaq Mason | 22 | $680,881 | 2019 |
| Duron Harmon | 24 | $677,775 | 2017 |
| Bryan Stork | 24 | $674,250 | 2018 |
| Akiem Hicks | 25 | $670,100 | 2016 |
| James White | 23 | $654,272 | 2018 |
| Joe Cardona | 23 | $620,000 | 2019 |
| A.J. Derby | 24 | $598,013 | 2019 |
| Darryl Roberts | 24 | $583,556 | 2019 |
| Brandon Bolden | 25 | $1,160,000 | 2017 |
| Tyler Gaffney | 24 | $579,150 | 2018 |
| Chris Jones | 25 | $563,128 | 2017 |
| Nate Ebner | 25 | $549,150 | 2016 |
| Tarell Brown | 30 | $2,000,000 | 2016 |
| Jonathan Freeny | 26 | $1,750,000 | 2017 |
| LeGarrette Blount | 28 | $865,000 | 2016 |
| David Andrews | 23 | $530,000 | 2018 |
| Malcolm Butler | 25 | $510,000 | 2017 |
| Bradley Fletcher | 29 | $1,500,000 | 2016 |
| Josh Kline | 25 | $496,333 | 2016 |
| Michael Williams | 25 | $480,000 | 2017 |
| Brandon Gibson | 28 | $825,000 | 2016 |
| Dane Fletcher | 29 | $825,000 | 2016 |
| James Develin | 27 | $660,000 | 2016 |
| Sealver Siliga | 26 | $660,000 | 2016 |
| Brian Tyms | 26 | $600,000 | 2016 |
| Dion Lewis | 25 | $585,000 | 2016 |
| Khyri Thornton | 25 | $585,000 | 2016 |
| Rufus Johnson | 25 | $435,000 | 2016 |
| Justin Coleman | 22 | $435,000 | 2016 |
Thus, the Patriots have very little cap space to spare while bulking up a team that can maintain the team’s status of Super bowl champions. Some major changes have been made to the roster so far, with paying off the commitments made to its players for their contracts, certain additions to the team and letting go of certain players from last season.
