Patriots cap a busy offseason

The elephant -- Ty Law's $10,206,965 salary cap number -- still is in the room, and it remains to be seen whether the Patriots move it. In the meantime, they've created a little space around it.

In the months since the Super Bowl, the Patriots have restructured the contracts of several veterans, among them Willie McGinest, Roman Phifer, Mike Vrabel, and, most recently, Troy Brown, to create almost enough room under their cap to sign their rookies. According to the league's salary cap report, as of yesterday the Patriots were $1,317,977 under their adjusted cap of $80,573,225.

Players Association documents confirm that the Patriots reworked Brown's contract last week and extended it a year, to 2005, for bookkeeping purposes, creating a savings of $745,000. Brown had been scheduled to earn $2.25 million in base salary this year; the Patriots guaranteed $1.49 million, reducing his base salary to the minimum ($760,000), and prorated it over the next two years, essentially guaranteeing his return for a 12th season. Brown's cap number for this year went from $3,946,434 to $3,201,434, but his cap number next season stands at $5,751,160, with a $2.5 million roster bonus. In short, the Patriots made today's problem tomorrow's problem.

Meanwhile, they're still paying a pretty penny for several of yesterday's players; Antowain Smith still counts $2.025 million in "dead money" against the cap, while Lawyer Milloy is on the books for $4,053,623. Kenyatta Jones, Chad Lee, Leonard Myers, Spencer Nead, and Antwoine Womack account for another $547,334, and the Patriots are still on the hook for $250,168 for Ethan Kelley, Shawn Mayer, Fred McCrary, and Otis Smith.

Besides Law, the Patriots have only three current players counting more than $3 million toward the cap: Brown, McGinest, and Tom Brady, who checks in at $8,374,350. McGinest was due to carry a $5,671,100 cap charge, but on March 1, New England turned "likely-to-be-earned" incentives into "not-likely-to-be-earned" incentives, allowing them to push that $2 million onto next year's cap.

The Patriots got more cap relief the following day when they reduced Phifer's salaries for the next two seasons from $3 million to $760,000 and $800,000, respectively, while throwing in a $490,000 signing bonus.

Vrabel was entering the penultimate year of his contract but on March 18 the Patriots tacked on two more and in the process lowered his base to $660,000 by guaranteeing $1.99 million and spreading it over the remainder of the deal. Vrabel is down to make $1.85 million in '05.

The Patriots and Vrabel's agent, Neil Cornrich, will likely be back at the bargaining table two years from now, however, as Vrabel is scheduled to earn $5 million in base salary and receive a $6 million roster bonus in 2006 and 2007.

The Patriots could turn to yet another linebacker for cap relief, Tedy Bruschi, who is to earn $1.75 million and count $2,422,268 against the cap in the final year of his contract. But Bruschi, who represents himself, may well opt to play out the year and wait until after the season to discuss a new deal.