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So, this isn’t a great development. The Athletic’s Jeff Duncan reports that the New Orleans Saints are competing with Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot for the right to keep one of their best-kept secrets in the building: Khai Harley.
Fontenot, of course, spent the last decade-plus climbing the ladder in New Orleans to become the team’s vice president of pro personnel and assistant general manager. That rise catapulted him into the G.M. chair in Atlanta, where he’s been working to recruit one of his former coworkers.
Harley, who owns the formal title of vice president of football administration, is the man behind the spreadsheets in New Orleans, the salary cap wizard who has navigated the team through all of its creative accounting: restructures, ghost years, and all. He’s been a pioneer of maneuvering the salary cap to keep the books in order for the Saints, allowing them to scoff at the dangers of “salary cap hell” every offseason.
While Saints general manager Mickey Loomis has gotten a lot of credit as the face of the front office, Harley’s behind-the-scenes work has made a lot of their bold decisions possible.
He’s maybe the most important cog in the Saints front office, doing the most to keep the Saints cap-compliant and competitive year in and year out. So it makes sense for the Saints to work hard to retain him, as Duncan added in his report. They could pull that off with a raise and a promotion (as they did to keep talented defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen in the building), but it’s just as possible Harley leaves for greener pastures. Keep an eye on this one.
Update: Duncan later reported that, for now, Harley is expected to remain with the Saints.
