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Cap considerations

When a player passes away while he's under contract to a team, the team is still responsible for a salary cap charge. We checked into this in regards to the passing of defensive lineman Marquise Hill.

According to the NFL's player personnel department, the Patriots are currently being charged the unamortized portion of Hill's prior signing bonus, as well as a likely-to-be-earned minimum offseason workout per diem.

After he was selected with the final pick of the second round in the 2004 draft, Hill had signed a five-year contract that included a $1.15 million signing bonus.

Entering 2007, the unamortized portion of the bonus was $460,000. Hill also had a likely-to-be-earned offseason workout per diem of $6,720 for 2007.

So based on those numbers, the Patriots' salary cap charge would come to $466,720.

Hill had two years left on his contract and it is possible that the Patriots will be allowed to spread the cap charge over two seasons. The Patriots and NFL have yet to reconcile that part of the equation.