Patriots Are Officially Dead Last in NFL Cap Space

Some transactions throughout the NFL this week have put the New England Patriots at the very bottom of the NFL's financial stratosphere.

On May 31, the Atlanta Falcons ($177,141) and Los Angeles Rams ($528,179) were the only teams behind the Patriots in salary cap space. However, on June 2 the Falcons earned more space due to cornerback Desmond Trufant's release, so they now have $11,677,141 in available cap space. And the Rams now have $6,028,179 after running back Todd Gurley's release. That means both teams have more cap space than New England, who is now the only team in the league to not have over $1 million in available cap space ($650,989). These numbers were provided to me by Patriots cap expert Miguel Benzan of Boston Sports Journal and the NFLPA salary cap report.

The six-time Super Bowl champions are in a bit of a pinch ahead of training camp. If they want to make any addition to the team in the coming months, they will need to free up more cap space in order to do such.

One of the best ways for them to free up cap space would be to come to an agreement on a long-term extension with offensive guard Joe Thuney, who they franchise tagged this offseason. His current cap number for 2020 is $14,781,000, but agreeing to a multi-year contract would help lower that number and free up quite a bit of room. Restructuring the contracts of cornerback Stephon Gilmore, guard Shaq Mason, or receiver Julian Edelman would free up some money as well. Giving linebacker Dont'a Hightower an extension would also do the trick, as he is in a contract year.