With Marcus Cannon Reportedly Signed, Who Do The Patriots Lock Up Next?
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- If you had Marcus Cannon in your "Who will the Patriots give an extension to first?" pool, congratulations. You may be able to retire early. But the truth is, the Patriots are going to be thin at tackle and there are not many reliable right tackles throughout the National Football League. Also, Cannon has had a career year. So despite his reputation in recent years, Cannon has earned his money and extending him was more necessary than you may believe.
However, it's still fair to wonder where the rest of the Patriots' money is going now that the Cannon contract has broken the seal on the team's upcoming extensions. With 13 players still on track to reach free agency after the season, the team is in a position to have cap space approaching $60 million in 2017, according to Spotrac. So their money has to go somewhere.
The NFL Network's Ian Rapoport tweeted on Tuesday that Cannon's five-year deal is worth $32.5 million, which will give him an annual cap hit of $6.5 million. In 2017, that would barely crack the top-25 highest-paid tackles in the league, which sounds reasonable. But it would also make Cannon one of the five-highest-paid right tackles and give him the sixth-highest cap hit on the team, just behind Rob Gronkowski's cap hit of $7 million.
With players like Dont'a Hightower, Jabaal Sheard, Martellus Bennett, Logan Ryan, Duron Harmon, and Alan Branch also among the players headed for unrestricted free agency - and Malcolm Butler on track to become a restricted free agent - the Patriots have plenty of financial decisions remaining in the immediate future. You'd have to think that Hightower is next in line for an extension, considering his ascendance to the captain's role on the defense and that he is by far the most talented, reliable linebacker on the team right now. The team is also reportedly making it a priority to extend Bennett in the offseason.
You also have to factor in that the Patriots have a few players who, while locked up past 2016, could have a case for a raise. Gronkowski is at the top of that list. Backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is another interesting case, as he could fetch a high-end deal from teams as a free agent but the Patriots may also want to keep him around until Tom Brady is done playing. Are they saving money to pay Garoppolo for beyond 2017? It may be the right move in the long run, as Garoppolo may have already shown the league enough to know he can be a good starting quarterback.
While the salary cap is not the restrictive force that it may appear to be - Belichick himself has famously said that it can be maneuvered in a number of different ways - financial power structure, ostensibly, is important to the coach. He once asked Tim Tebow to turn down a $1 million endorsement deal, according to the former QB's new book; part of the reasoning for that could be that he didn't want a backup QB making more in one day than much of the roster would make in a full season. It's also likely that Belichick won't want Cannon making more money than Hightower and Butler and almost as much as Gronk.
The Patriots may have loads of cap space coming up in 2017, but there won't be much of it to go around after Hightower gets his extension and if Gronkowski, Butler, and Garoppolo get their own lucrative restructurings. That was going to be a tricky set of decisions without adding $6.5 million to the cap for the right tackle.
It's surprising that Cannon is the first player to get such an extension, and his extension will only make the future of the rest of the Patriots roster more uncertain.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
