Nick Easton

Potential savings: $4 million

Easton was initially signed to compete with rookie center Erik McCoy in 2019, but McCoy had that competition wrapped up by the first week of training camp. Strangely, Easton then struggled to get on the field for much of his first season in New Orleans. He took a backseat to Patrick Omameh and Will Clapp as the active backups on game days, but was the go-to guard to fill in while Andrus Peat or Larry Warford were injured. All told, he played 409 snaps in 10 games, most of them starts during Peat’s six-week absence.

Peat will be a free agent in 2020, and he shouldn’t be considered likely to return to New Orleans. There are so many bad offensive lines around the league that he should get contract offers to play either left guard or left tackle, and probably be paid handsomely for it. That opens the door for Easton to start immediately with the Saints at left guard, making his release unlikely. If the Saints did cut him, they’d still be on the hook for $1.5 million in dead money this year.

Instability along the offensive line makes the decision to keep Easton around easy, even if he ends up losing his starting gig to another rookie draft pick, should the Saints go that route. You can never have too many backups with NFL experience.

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