The New Orleans Saints are hard at work restructuring contracts and discussing pay cuts or extensions with different players as they seek to reach salary cap compliance, but some outright releases could be on the way in the near future. Banged-up star wide receiver Michael Thomas appears to be on the way out (unless the Saints land free agent quarterback Derek Carr, maybe?) as a post-June 1 cut, and that’s also in play for Jameis Winston, New Orleans’ former starting quarterback.
But if either player stays with the Saints for 2023, oft-injured left guard Andrus Peat makes sense as another cuts candidate. Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti put together an “All-Roster-Bubble Team” of the best players at each position who could be salary cap cut casualties in the weeks ahead, and Peat won the dubious distinction of making the list:
“Back-to-back restructures keep this contract difficult to move off from, but it seems a foregone conclusion anyway. A Pre 6/1 release only frees up $1.3M of cap space, while a Post 6/1 designation would open up $11.825M. The Saints have had players agree to base salary pay cuts in order to help facilitate a Post 6/1 move, and this feels like one of those situations. Dropping Peat’s deal down to the minimum for 2023 lowers his cap hit to $7.71M, a much more tenable number to have to carry through June 1st.”
Injuries have limited Peat to 17 appearances over the last 34 games, and he never completed a full 16-game season before the NFL expanded to a 17-week slate (twice playing 15 games, back-to-back in 2016 and 2017). The Saints will only receive modest salary cap savings by moving off of his contract, due to those past restructures, and they’ll probably only part ways with him if they choose to hold onto either Thomas or Winston instead. It’s a difficult problem they’ve made for themselves by doubling and tripling down on an aging player with durability concerns.
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