It's that time again, the New Orleans Saints are well over the salary cap as the new league year approaches, and something has to give.
The good news? The 2025 salary cap was officially set at $279.2 million last week, a $23.8 million increase from last year and a good sign that teams that bake in yearly cap increases to their plans can breathe a sigh of relief. This is the new normal.
They got an early start to the process this week with the termination of veteran RB Jamaal Williams' contract. It was a small savings. He'll account for $2.3 million in dead money, but will free up approximately $1.6 million toward the goal of cap compliance.
That means total bill needed to be cleared is a bit over $46 million. They'll need to clear additional space to sign their drafted class and even more if they intend to sign free agents, but that's something to figure out down the line.
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THINGS TO NOTE
The interesting thing is that if you go simply by the players on the Saints roster, they're under the cap. It's the players no longer on the roster that create the imbalance. It's a bit annoying, but it's simply how the Saints navigate the cap, and has been for years. This year those dead cap charges account for $50.7 million and include (minimum $1M):
- CB Marshon Lattimore: $31.6M
- WR Michael Thomas: $9.2M
- QB Jameis Winston: $7.3M
- RB Jamaal Williams: $2.3M
There are several other names on the list, but all account for negligible amounts relative to UDFA or rookie contract guarantees.
It's worth noting that RT Ryan Ramczyk is almost certainly going to have his dead cap charge added to this list when he retires after June 1, but that'll be something the team has to account for at that point and will not affect the March 12 calculation. He reduced his base salary to the minimum in the meantime, something players have been known to do as they work to help their team prior to retirement. Drew Brees and Malcolm Jenkins did the same before calling it a career in recent seasons.
Ramczyk will ultimately count $11.1 million against the 2025 cap after his retirement, and he'll appear on next year's dead money list at $11.9 million.
It's also important to mention that there are three veteran contracts set to void this offseason currently baked into the cap overage through dead money hits. Those include:
- DE Chase Young: $9.1M
- TE Juwan Johnson: $6.5M
- DE Tanoh Kpassagnon: $1.5M
There's certainly a path to clearing cap space by extending one or more of these players, but the amount would be depending on the contract structure. It also seems likely that Young and Johnson would want to at least test their value on the free agent market. That would mean the Saints have to clear their overage by March 12 independently, even if a new deal was hammered out down the line.
This seems like a good moment to stop and point out that the minutiae here is a lot more complicated than I'm making it sound, and I'm truly uninterested in getting into all of it. I'm simply laying out the broad strokes so people can have an understanding of what has to happen, and generally how things work. The most important thing to remember is demonstrated through the three contracts above. Moving on from players with void years baked into their deals doesn't offer immediate cap relief. Moving on from veteran players, in most cases, is simply accelerating future money hits onto the current year's cap. As cathartic as it might be to imagine the Saints "ripping the band-aid off" and cutting every player over 30, that would actually make the situation far more complicated.
Also, to everyone suggesting ripping off band-aids ... how often do you do that? I tried it once and regretted it immediately. There's almost always a better way, you just have to sit and think about it for a moment.
THE ROADMAP
I know, I know, I promised a roadmap and then handed you a 1,000-word preamble, but you've eaten your vegetables, now onto the meal.
There will be some variance in how cap overages are calculated, but let's go with the standard $46.3 million. That's the number to clear.
I'm also going to assume that the Saints don't hammer out any pay cuts or extensions over the next week. They certainly could, but I'd simply be guessing at the terms. The biggest number belongs to Derek Carr, and since he's already stated he has no intention of taking a pay cut, let's assume that's true.
The Saints could potentially cut him outright, but that would clear just $1M against the cap in 2025 and would make the rest of this process very complicated. They could also opt to make him a post June 1 cut, which would split out that cap hit over two seasons but wouldn't create any cap relief until June 1. The Saints have indicated they intend to keep him around, so let's take them at their word.
Demario Davis and Tyrann Mathieu each took something of a pay cut last year, so they're likely off the table this time around. That leaves Cam Jordan and Taysom Hill as the only two veterans who could make a significant dent with a pay cut. For the purposes here, let's operate as if no pay cuts come through.
As always, things will be handled primarily with restructures. I always start with...
The no-brainers
I wouldn't say I have a tried-and-true method for this section, but you typically know it when you see it. Anyone who would still be considered "young" and an unquestioned starter who will likely be around for multiple seasons, they effectively get automatic restructures. I can only identify three such players this year, which is an unfortunately low number and pretty telling of where this roster currently is. Those players and their restructure savings are:
- C Erik McCoy: $6.7M
- G Cesar Ruiz: $6.3M
- DE Carl Granderson: $5.2M
Total: $18.2M
Left to clear: $28.1M
The simple path
We should all be able to agree on the players above. They're all on the right side of 30 and should be around for a while. Good deal. From that point ... eh, the choices are not as popular.
There is one that would be incredibly simple, though, and it's felt likely since I started looking at these numbers months ago. It's the Derek Carr path:
- QB Derek Carr: $30.9M
Left to clear: 0 ($2.8M under)
Yes, with one fully executed restructure the Saints can all high five and go home for the day. If the team is committed to sticking with Carr -- something fans might not be as thrilled about -- it's a no-brainer. There will obviously be more money guaranteed and ramifications for next year's salary cap when the QB would count $69 million, but the cap headwinds are significantly lessened at that point and you can make things work. The biggest question is a Kellen Moore question, and it seems like the new head coach is happy to have Carr running his offense.
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The complicated path
While I don't think it's going to happen, let's go down the path of not restructuring Carr for the simple purpose of driving that point home. Again, they could cut the QB, but that would only save $1 million this year. It'd make more sense, in that instance, to just keep him around and pay him -- but set the stage to move on in 2026. He'd count $51M against this year's cap and another $28M next year, but the quarterback you're paying (and he's getting most of that money regardless) would at least be playing for you.
So that'd mean we're still sitting with that $28.1M left to clear by March 12. Pay cuts could certainly be on the table, but what if everyone said nah. Here are all the other restructures available (non-rookie deals; min. $1M):
- DE Cam Jordan: $8.9M
- TE Taysom Hill: $5.3M
- LB Demario Davis: $5.6M
- S Tyrann Mathieu: $4.5M
- DT Nathan Shepherd: $3M
- LB Pete Werner: $2.5M
- WR Rashid Shaheed: $2M
- DT Khalen Saunders: $1.9M
- TE Foster Moreau: $1.8M
- RB Alvin Kamara: $1.4M
- S J.T. Gray: $1.2M
Bolded total: $29.8M
Overall total: $38.1M
If you executed all those restructures, you'd clear the overage and about $10 million in space, but that's it. There are virtually no more levers to pull. That would include restructures for several older players in Jordan, Hill, Davis and Mathieu, which would extend the commitment to those players and create larger dead money hits down the line, something that shouldn't be seen as a particularly attractive option.
As mentioned there are some potential pay cuts the team could look to execute, but those are tough to sell on a team that doesn't appear invested in winning and cutting/trading those players isn't a dream option, either. For example, cutting Jordan this week would actually cost the team $3 million in space. For Hill? That'd save about $527K.
One interesting name to watch will be WR Cedrick Wilson, who isn't a restructure candidate and would represent about $2.4 million in cap savings if he's cut ... BUT, he's a former Boise State Bronco who spend 4 years on Moore's staff in Dallas. Maybe he's a pay cut candidate, but I still expect Moore to want to keep that guy around.
THE VERDICT
To me, simple is better. If the Saints can get some veterans to agree on some lesser compensation numbers over the next week to limit some restructuring, fantastic. If not, I still the think the path remains the same. Clear the cap with four or so restructures, build sensibly in free agency and do your best to give Kellen Moore a fighting chance with the pieces in the building.
GM Mickey Loomis hinted at the combine that the Saints don't expect to sit back and do nothing in free agency. I'd vote for sensibility and understanding that, while not a lost cause, the headwinds of this season will make optimism difficult. Stay the course with short-term contracts, like last season, and the goal can be to re-emerge in 2027 with one of the cleaner cap tables in the league and hopefully a shiny, young quarterback to build around. Winning in the process would be fun, but you can't continue to mortgage the future for a playoff pipe dream.
This Saints team is never going fully in the tank, but there's a middle ground they should be looking to tread. let's see if they find it.