How Retiring Devin McCourty Helped Patriots Create Cap Space

Devin McCourty's final act as a New England Patriots player granted his team a bit of financial flexibility.

Before officially retiring, the longtime Patriots safety signed what amounts to a ceremonial one-year, $1.165 million contract, according to a report Wednesday from ESPN's Field Yates.

The point of that? To free up $5.035 million in salary cap space for the upcoming season.

Had the Patriots not made that transaction, $9.7 million in dead money from McCourty's previous deal would have sat on New England's books in 2023. Instead, $6.2 million of that will be pushed to 2024, "presuming the retirement is officially processed after June 1," per Yates' report.

While he is retiring, the Patriots tacked a year onto Devin McCourty’s contract at a minimum value ($1.165M for 2023), per source.

This is a cap tactic that creates $5.035M in 2023 cap space, while pushing $6.2M in dead money to 2024, presuming the retirement is officially…
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 15, 2023

Patriots salary cap expert Miguel Benzan predicted the team would make such a move back in January, when McCourty openly acknowledged he was considering retirement after New England's Week 18 season-ending road loss to the Buffalo Bills.

If Devin McCourty were to retire in 2023 and the Patriots were to officially process it after June 1st they could lower his cap number from $9.7M to $4.665M for a $5.035M savings. After retirement, the 2023 dead money would be $3.5M while his 2024 dead money would be $6.2M
— Patscap (@patscap) January 12, 2023

It's unclear how the Patriots plan to use that extra cap space. As of Wednesday morning, they agreed to terms with just one external free agent: former Denver Broncos offensive tackle Calvin Anderson. They locked up more than a half-dozen of their own free agents, including re-signing cornerback Jonathan Jones and tendering defensive back Myles Bryant.