Mario Edwards Jr.
Potential savings: $2.765 million
The journeyman pass rusher had a good year for the Saints, nearly matching his career-high in sacks (3) at the bottom of the defensive line rotation. He lined up all over the Saints defensive front (though predominately at three-technique defensive tackle), playing 293 snaps in 14 regular season games. That ranked eighth among all defensive linemen and fourth among interior linemen, specifically.
For context, here’s how the playing-time distribution shook out for the Saints defensive line rotation, ordered in snaps played per game:
- DE Cameron Jordan, 54.8 snaps per game (16 games)
- DE Marcus Davenport, 40.9 snaps per game (13 games)
- DT David Onyemata, 37.7 snaps per game (15 games)
- DT Sheldon Rankins, 32.2 snaps per game (10 games)
- DE Trey Hendrickson, 31.1 snaps per game (13 games)
- NT Malcom Brown, 30.4 snaps per game (16 games)
- NT Taylor Stallworth, 23.3 snaps per game (4 games)
- DT Shy Tuttle, 21.3 snaps per game (16 games)
- DT Mario Edwards Jr., 20.9 snaps per game (14 games)
- DE Carl Granderson, 14.4 snaps per game (8 games)
That’s not enough to make Edwards a sure-thing to return in 2020. He will be 26 and playing in a contract year, which is plenty of motivation, but his low production and lower spot in the pecking-order is tough to justify a $3.24 million salary cap hit. The Saints can free up $2.65 million if they release him (leaving just $475,000 on the books in dead money), and it’s easy to see them taking that route should they need to pinch pennies that badly. Maybe he’d agree to a pay cut instead.
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