The Saints have a lot of interesting and potentially difficult decisions heading into the 2022 season, but the solution might actually be relatively simple.
After years of cap-savvy management that have pushed the bills down the road at the expense of cash-flow and roster flexibility, is it time to "bite the bullet" and start fresh?
That would be the approach if Audacy NFL Insider Michael Lombardi was at the controls, laying out his reasoning on WWL Radio with Voice of the Saints Mike Hoss and Saints radio color analyst Deuce McAllister.
Listen to Lombardi's full interview in the player below. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"I think at some point Sean [Payton] and Mickey [Loomis] have to sit in a room and say to themselves, ‘look, we might have to bite the bullet but we need to rebuild this thing. We need to tear it down and forget about trying to use the credit card to go from one year to the next year and just get our cap in order for one year, have a program, rebuild it and then start from the ground floor,' " Lombardi said. "And I know Saints fans don’t want to hear that, but they have been so close, so close, you know, to reaching their final destination and unfortunately the last 4 years they haven’t been able to. But I do think the time has come to an end. … At some point you’ve got to swallow hard and pay the piper, and I think next year might be the time to do it.”
As Lombardi, who has spent nearly four decades around NFL programs from scouting roles to front office positions, points out, it's not a gameplan that'd endear itself to many Saints fans. That doesn't mean it's without merit. The team found itself on the wrong side of a $100 million cap deficit heading into the 2020 season, a circumstance that forced the departure of several key players like Emmanuel Sanders and Janoris Jenkins, both of whom are still in action in the playoffs on the Bills and Titans, respectively. Trey Hendrickson walked in free agency and landed a massive deal with the Cincinnati Benglas, another team set for a Divisional Round playoff matchup.
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But how the Saints get there is another question. What Loomis and Co. have done well, Lombardi says, is focusing on the "areas that matter the most." That'd be QB, OL and DL, where most games are won and lost. Now sitting about $60 million over the cap heading into 2022, Loomis and Co. have plenty of ways to make up that number while retaining key players. But as Lombardi points out, until the quarterback of the future is in the building, you're better off cleaning up the cap table than re-leveraging the current financials with another slew of restructured deals.
It's time to turn short-term thinking into long-term thinking, Lombardi says. It'd mean collecting assets and possible trading some high-paid players. Michael Thomas, who missed the entire season with an injury, would represent one of the more interesting decisions. The star WR will be set to make $15M on his current deal with 2 years remaining. The team also has difficult decisions to make at QB, with left tackle Terron Armstead and free safety Marcus Williams.
"If you continue to think short-term, I’m not saying you’re going to lose games next year, I’m just saying I think you need to build a foundation where you can have the cap room and the flexibility to compete on the next level," he says.
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The cap space is one hurdle in any potential trade for seemingly unhappy star QBs in Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson, though it doesn't rule out a trade if the Saints opted to pull the trigger. Taysom Hill has been effective when called upon, but struggles to stay healthy, Ian Book is unproven, Jameis Winston has plenty of credentials, but seven games with Payton likely isn't enough for a definitive answer on whether that duo is the duo of the future, Lombardi says.
Still, it'd likely be the 28-year-old Winston that offers the most attractive option to fill that void short term, if the Saints don't look elsewhere. But what the Saints know they have is a quarterback guru in Payton, and finding the QB must be the paramount concern.
“There’s certainly enough documentation on Jameis, however ... we haven’t seen enough of him with Sean, and I think that’s the difference. And I think that’s really what you need to see more of. Because you know Sean coaches better quarterbacks than anybody," Lombardi said. "He’s one of the best quarterback coaches, he’s going to get the best out of everybody. And I think that certainly, if Jameis can come back and he’s healthy, I think he will improve and he could be the short-term option. There’s no doubt."
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