When looking at a list of New England Patriots contracts you can see that three players appear to have signed almost identical deals. Linebacker K.J. Britt, cornerback Kindle Vildor and offensive tackle James Hudson all joined the team this offseason on one-year pacts with the same base salaries and, despite differences in signing bonuses, workouts bonuses and guarantees, the same salary cap hits.
The reason for that is that all three signed so-called veteran benefit deals, which in turn allows the
Patriots to lower their impact against the cap.
OT James Hudson III: Contract details
Base value: $1,402,500
Maximum value: $1,402,500
Guarantees: $537,500
Signing bonus: $137,500
Salary (2026): $400,000
2026 (age 27):
Base salary: $1,215,000
Signing bonus: $137,500
Workout bonus: $50,000
Salary cap hit: $1,262,500
As discussed previously, in order to qualify for a veteran salary benefit, qualifying unrestricted free agents will have to sign one-year deals at the minimum salary for their experience in the league. In Hudson’s case, just like in K.J. Britt’s and Kindle Vildor’s that salary is $1.215 million.
Adding his signing and workout bonuses to the mix would typically result in a cap number of $1.403 million. However, the benefit allows for a $140,000 reduction of that cap hit.
The most interesting number from our perspective is therefore the guaranteed salary, which at $400,000 is slightly lower than Britt’s $500,000 but higher than Vildor’s $300,000. In the grand scheme of things, however, those differences are minimal and will have a limited impact on whether or not one player will make the team over the other.
That said, the inclusion of that guarantee is a way for the Patriots to sweeten the deal without violating the expenditure restrictions of the veteran salary benefit.
