Spillane joined the Patriots on a three-year, $33 million deal in free agency.
Entering the offseason as league leaders in salary cap space, the New England Patriots were unsurprisingly among the most active teams in the NFL in free agency. Their first signing — apart from picking up previously-released Harold Landry one day before the legal tampering period began — already was a big one: linebacker Robert Spillane joined the team on a three-year, $33 million contract.
Spillane will be the Patriots’ top off-ball linebacker and a crucial part of their defensive operation in 2025, a continuation of the role he played during his previous two-year stint with the Las Vegas Raiders. As a result, he will be in prime position to add some extra money to his deal’s base value.
A look at Spillane’s contract incentives, as first reported by Miguel Benzan, illustrates this.
LB Robert Spillane: Contract incentives
2025: Up to $1.5M
$375,000: 75% defensive snaps
$375,000: 80% defensive snaps
$375,000: 85% defensive snaps
$375,000: 90% defensive snaps
2026: Up to $1.5M
$375,000: 75% defensive snaps
$375,000: 80% defensive snaps
$375,000: 85% defensive snaps
$375,000: 90% defensive snaps
2027: Up to $1.5M
$375,000: 75% defensive snaps
$375,000: 80% defensive snaps
$375,000: 85% defensive snaps
$375,000: 90% defensive snaps
In total, Spillane stands to earn $4.5 million in contract incentives over the next three years. The structure of those will be the same each season, with an extra $375,000 coming his way for 75, 80, 85 and 90 percent of defensive snaps played.
As far as 2025 is concerned, all four of those steps are classified as likely to be earned (LTBE). Spillane, after all, was on the field for 98.2 percent of Las Vegas’ snaps in 2024. As a consequence, his $1.5 million incentive figure for this coming season is currently part of his $9 million salary cap hit.
If he fails to reach any of those levels this fall, the Patriots would get a credit on their 2026 cap. The appropriate escalator level would then also be classified as not likely to be earned (NLTBE) for next season and not calculated into his 2026 cap number. Any other LTBE incentives, meanwhile, would increase what is currently a $12.5 million cap hit next year.
Spillane earning his incentives in 2025 and beyond would not be a surprise, though. The 29-year-old was an ultra-reliable player for the Raiders and rarely left the field; he finished his two-year tenure with the team with a defensive playing time share of 97.7 percent after taking the field for 2,196 of 2,248 possible snaps.
Given his projected role and the current composition of the Patriots’ linebacker group, Spillane reaching a similar level not just in 2025 seems very much possible. Most if not all of those $4.5 million worth of incentives therefore seems to be well within his reach.