$1M less than projected in Panthers cap space

[Bartin]

https://www.nflpa.com/news/all-news/2016-adjusted-team-salary-caps

The NFLPA just released the final adjusted cap figures and the Panthers came in at just under $158M which is $1M less than the projected $159M than the cap websites had. The column showing adjustments from 2015 is where this is shown and the Panthers had a negative adjustment of $1,008,059 from 2015.

The reason for this is something called "not likely to be earned" incentives(NLTBE) that players on the team hit in their contracts last year for either winning, stats or making the pro bowl. Any incentive that did not occur in the prior year is considered to be NLTBE for the purposes of the salary cap and is not counted on the salary cap.. If the players then hit the incentive it is then taken off the following years cap. After a relatively poor year in 2014 and not many pro bowlers, it is expected that we would have a number of NLTBE incentives that hit after going 15-1, making the Super Bowl and having a record number of pro bowlers.

"Likely to be earned" incentives(LTBE) function in the opposite manner. They are counted on the current year's cap and if they don't hit, they are then credited to the following years cap.

For example, if Cam had an incentive for making the pro bowl in 2015 then it would be considered NLTBE because he didn't make the pro bowl in 2014 and would not be counted on the 2015 cap. If he has one in 2016 then it is considered to be LTBE because he made the pro bowl in 2015 and would be counted on the 2016 cap.