The Patriots now have $7.79 million in available cap space

The New England Patriots ran into some extra cash. 

Once the new NFL year began, the New England Patriots were among the least active teams on the open market. That was due to the team having such a limited amount of cap space to spend, which forced them to watch Tom Brady and Kyle Van Noy to join new teams. Fast forward to four months later, and the Patriots don’t have cap issues any longer.

On Saturday, the Patriots received settlements in compensation grievances for wide receiver Antonio Brown and ex-tight end Aaron Hernandez. As a result, New England now has $7.79 million in cap space.

How the Patriots received the extra money

The Patriots were due to pay Brown a $9 million signing bonus, with half supposed to be paid on Sept. 23, with the other half being paid this past January. However, New England cut ties with Brown three days prior to the first payday, due to the receiver dealing with sexual assault allegations.  So now, the Patriots will give “AB” $5 million, while they recouped $4 million in cap space.

For Hernandez, the Patriots are receiving a $2.55 million settlement after a long grievance process. New England released the former tight end back in 2013 after he was arrested for the murder of Odin Lloyd. A year prior to his arrest, the Patriots signed Hernandez to a five-year, $39.6 million contract extension, with $15.9 million being guaranteed.

As for New England’s current cap number, the Patriots restructured the contract of running back Rex Burkhead to free up around $1 million in space.

Could the Patriots make a run at top free agents in Jadeveon Clowney or Everson Griffen? You certainly can’t rule it out, especially when head coach Bill Belichick has money to spend.