The Patriots have been busy during the past 24 hours, clearly making move for ... something? Nothing? Who knows. Maybe they were just hoping to save money on airfare to London this week.
Trying To Figure Out The Patriots’ Moves
First, they cut LBTully Banta-Cain last night, only to resign him today, a move that was actually expected. Why? Mike Reiss has the answer.
Banta-Cain was playing under a one-year, $620,000 contract that qualified for the veteran minimum benefit.
It is my understanding that players under a veteran minimum benefit contract can not have their contract extended until after the league year.
Reading the tea leaves with Banta-Cain, it appears both Banta-Cain and the Patriots decided they wanted to make this a longer-term relationship, and figured “Why wait until after the season?” The only way to make that happen now was to rip up the veteran minimum benefit contract, and strike a brand new, longer-term agreement.
Savvy. Then today, the Pats cut Joey Galloway, as well as TE Michael Matthews and LB Eric Alexander. Seemingly insignificant players, so what gives? Releasing Galloway and Matthews, as previously reported, is most likely just to make room for players coming off the PUP list. And Alexander was cut for the same reason as Banta-Cain, according to the Boston Globe’s Christopher Gasper -- he’s another player with “minimum salary benefit.”
The reason for releasing Banta-Cain and Alexander within the last 24 hours is that once the NFL’s trading deadline, which is today at 4 p.m, passes, all released players are subject to waivers until Feb. 1.
Up until the deadline, players with four or more seasons of service are not subject to the waiver system.
So, the Patriots had to release Banta-Cain and Alexander if they wanted to sign them to new deals, but wanted to do so without exposing them to waivers, where another team could claim them.
It’s actually a very shrewd move.
Sometimes, it feels like the Patriots are playing chess while the rest of the NFL plays checkers. And videotaping it all for secrets later.
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