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#Raiders CB Eli Apple's deal: one year, $6 million base salary, all of it fully guaranteed, another $500k in incentives. No signing bonus, as has been the case with all the team's deals this spring. Cash flow apparently an issue.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 23, 2020
The New Orleans Saints lost starting cornerback Eli Apple to the Las Vegas Raiders, who signed the free agent to a one-year, $6 million contract. Per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, that $6 million is fully guaranteed with a further $500,000 available in incentives.
This is essentially a prove-it contract for Apple, who played at a decent level for the Saints for much of the 2019 season. But when injuries and suspensions struck the secondary — taking number-one cornerback Marshon Lattimore and nickel corner P.J. Williams off of the field — Apple folded under the added responsibilities and was fouled six times in three games, including three penalties for defensive pass interference on Thanksgiving against the Atlanta Falcons.
A late-season ankle injury and the pickup of Janoris Jenkins off the waiver wire pushed Apple further down the depth chart, and now off the Saints roster. It’s hardly the result the team imagined when they swapped a 2019 fourth-round pick and a seventh rounder in 2020 to acquire him from the New York Giants, who drafted him tenth overall out of Ohio State back in 2016. So how does his loss impact the compensatory draft pick formula?
Those selections are awarded based off of whether a team signs fewer unrestricted free agents than it loses, so Apple’s $6 million salary being valued as a sixth-round pick in 2021 cancels out the addition of Emmanuel Sanders at $8 million per year. The Saints have also lost quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (at $21 million per year, qualifying for a third-round pick) and linebacker A.J. Klein ($6 million per year, sixth rounder).
It’s unclear whether safety Malcolm Jenkins will factor in, but if he did his $8 million salary would wipe out the sixth-round selection garnered by losing Klein. Because Jenkins had his 2020 contract option declined by the Philadelphia Eagles, he should count against the Saints; if he had been cut instead, he would not factor into the equation. Changes in the new collective bargaining agreement make this a little more confusing than it’s been in the past.
The Saints also signed fullback Michael Burton, an unrestricted free agent, but his near-minimum salary will not count against the Saints’ other losses. For now, we’re conservatively predicting that the Saints will be awarded a third-round pick in 2021 for Bridgewater, while sixth-round selections for Klein and Apple will be wiped out by the signings of Sanders and Jenkins. Keep an eye out for Vonn Bell’s landing spot, which should also qualify for a compensatory pick in next year’s draft.
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