Marcus Williams

2020 salary cap hit: $1.98 million

Projected contract: Four years, $56 million with $22.5 million guaranteed

Don’t get caught up in the few poor decisions Williams has made in big moments: he’s a great coverage player for the Saints, regularly making the right call and shading towards the correct route combinations in heated games. He’s also been the only consistent playmaker in the secondary, being the only Saints defensive back to pick off multiple throws last season. No other Saints defender intercepted more passes from 2010 to 2019 than Williams (who bagged 10 of them since being drafted in 2017).

Safeties like Williams, who can line up in a single-high alignment and patrol the width of the field, reel in big salaries. Just look at Eddie Jackson ($14.6 million), Kevin Byard ($14.1 million), Tyrann Mathieu ($14 million), and Earl Thomas ($13.75 million). Of the players just listed, only Byard has intercepted more passes since 2017 than Williams (tied with Jackson). Williams is definitely going to make more on his second NFL contract than his former teammate Vonn Bell, who is pulling in $6 million a year from the Cincinnati Bengals.

The question is how much the Saints can save by signing Williams to a new deal sooner than later. Two other big-time free safeties, Anthony Harris and Justin Simmons, are each playing on the 2020 franchise tag (valued at $11.44 million) while working on long-term deals with their teams, and their pay raises should raise Williams’ asking-price. If the Saints value Williams as a fixture of their organization, and they should, the clock might be ticking on how much they can budget for him.

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