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Some analysts and fans on Twitter love to use this topic like a cudgel, but no one is sweating the salary cap hurdles between the New Orleans Saints and signing their draft picks less than the team itself. While the Saints are kind of strapped for cap space right now, it’s only a matter of time until enough resources are freed up to ink their rookie draft class.
The first step towards that goal will happen soon with Drew Brees’ $1.075 million base salary reverting to New Orleans after June 1.
Rookie contracts are planned out under the new NFL collective bargaining agreement, so those deals are now tied to draft slots and are easier to project and plan for. The team over at Over The Cap have put together estimates of what each Saints draft pick will count against the 2021 salary cap once they’re signed. I’ll reference those projections often, but keep in mind nothing is official until contracts are signed and the Saints report their cap numbers to the league.
Because only the top 51 contracts are factored against the cap during the offseason, not all of New Orleans’ draftees will even be counted. Remember, whenever a new cap hit is added to the books, it pushes lesser-valued deals below that top-51 threshold. Some of the Saints’ draft picks will carry 2021 cap hits that don’t even meet that bar. After factoring in which cap hits will be displaced, only the Saints’ top four draft picks will rank among the top 51 contracts, at a combined cost of roughly $1.94 million.
Let’s run through the estimates from Over The Cap and consider how each of them factors in to the salary cap: