The New Orleans Saints continue to get key positions addressed ahead of free agency, the latest being: special teams.
The Saints have inked safety and special teams ace J.T. Gray to a new, 3-year deal, according to a report from Ian Rapaport of the NFL Network. The deal has a maximum value of $11.1 million if all incentives are reached.
The deal is a bit of a shift for the team, which has routinely developed key special teams players but opted to let them find a deal elsewhere in free agency. In past seasons that group has included DBs Chris Banjo and Justin Hardee.
But Gray, who was named All-Pro in 2021 and saw a significant uptick in his playing time at safety in the 2022 season, will not be headed anywhere. The 27-year-old led the NFL with 19 special teams tackles in 2021, and has 67 total tackles in his career. He also logged 2.5 sacks in the 2022 season, the first of his career. Gray has been with the Saints since signing as a UDFA in 2018 and was set to enter unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career. He previously signed a 2-year contract extension prior to the 2021 season.
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The signing is yet another for a team that's been busy ahead of the start of free agency and still has work to do to become cap compliant as of the deadline on March 15. The Saints have also re-signed DE Tanoh Kpassagnon, G Calvin Throckmorton and WR Keith Kirkwood to low-level deals. They made the biggest splash earlier this week when they agreed to a 4-year, $150 million deal with free agent quarterback Derek Carr.
The Saints went into the day sitting about $25 million over the salary cap, but have several simple restructures they can execute to clear that number by the deadline, including Cam Jordan and Marshon Lattimore, who would account for roughly $20 million of that number.
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