By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.com Patriots InsiderFollow @tomecurran
The owners' last proposal before the lockout began proposed a 2011 salary cap of 114 million per team. Since that fateful day in March, the number has no doubt risen and the manner in which the cap will be calculated has as well. Best guess? If the players are getting 48 percent of 9.3 billion, the cap will be around 115 million per team. How do the Patriots project to stack up against that as of right now? We would not be able to tell you without the indispensable resource that is Miguel. Miguel Benzan, a resource for Patriots fans and media alike compiles the salary and bonus info for the Patriots on Patsfans.com. He has a disclaimer on the page that clearly states the info provided is done so to the best of his knowledge and the reports we in the media present on contract particulars. With that out of the way, I added up the projected 2011 cap hits for the Patriots and - including Logan Mankins' franchise tender and workout bonus dough of 10,518,120 - the Patriots are at 98,699,105. Now, will players get credit for workout bonuses in 2011? Doubtful. So you might be able to lop a couple million off the projected figure. And you have to allow for restructures or releases (Nick Kaczur at 4.383? Ohhh, I don't think so). Cutting to the chase, it would appear- from these very approximate figures - that the Patriots will be about 18 to 20 million under the cap when the lockout ends. So there.
Tom E. Curran can be reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran