Starting the offseason $76 million over the NFL’s salary cap would be stressful for any team but the New Orleans Saints. Throughout the last two weeks, the Saints have restructured several contracts in order to work their way to salary cap compliance, and the work continued this morning. According to reports, the Saints have opened up another $8.372 million by restructuring running back Alvin Kamara’s contract.
In doing so, New Orleans converted his $6 million roster bonus and $4.465 million of his base salary (which is now at the veteran minimum: $1.035 million) into a signing bonus and adding a void year in 2026. This move drops Kamara’s $14.5 million cap hit to just $6.128 million.
Doing this will also ensure that Kamara sees the majority of his year’s pay up front even in the case of a potential suspension. In that way, this could be seen as both a player and team-friendly move. Kamara was arrested in Las Vegas last month following an alleged altercation. The court hearing for his Las Vegas battery case has been pushed back to April 25.
The Saints should now be hovering between $20 to $25 million over the cap now with some hefty restructures left in their pockets. The Saints could save over $18 million by restructuring Marshon Lattimore’s contract and up to $7 million with a restructure to Taysom Hill’s deal. After that, any additional moves such as a potential extension or release of cornerback Bradley Roby, would begin to open up spending money beyond cap compliance.
The Saints have converted $10.465M of RB Alvin Kamara’s 2022 compensation into a signing bonus, creating $8.372M in 2022 cap space, per source.
New Orleans continues to get closer to being under the cap.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 11, 2022
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