The New Orleans Saints are paying $24.5 million in dead money to eight of their former players, including several draft picks and a couple of high-profile veterans who left in free agency this spring. That’s the bad news.
Here’s the good news: this is, by far, the lowest dead money total the Saints have carried into the offseason in recent years. It takes up only 10.8% of their 2023 salary cap, compared to challenging portions of 15.9% in 2022 and 18.4% in 2021. After suffering some cap constraints from the COVID-19 and the departures of cornerstone players like Drew Brees, Terron Armstead, and Malcolm Jenkins, the Saints’ salary cap outlook is finally looking healthy.
So where are these dead money payouts going? Here’s what we know thanks to Over The Cap research: