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The New Orleans Saints created some much-needed space beneath the NFL salary cap by restructuring contracts with left tackle Terron Armstead and wide receiver Michael Thomas, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill. It’s a logical decision considering Armstead and Thomas ranked second and third for the Saints in salary cap hits for the 2020 season.
While the specifics about how much room the Saints have found is unclear, we can take an educated guess. Armstead carried a cap hit of $16 million, but $10.7 million of that is tied to his base salary — much of that can be converted into a signing bonus, which would be prorated over the next few years. Over The Cap suggests the Saints can save as much as $5.125 million with this maneuver.
Likewise, Thomas is due to count $15 million against the salary cap, with $11 million in base salary. Over The Cap’s estimates project a total of $8.072 million in savings, but we won’t know until later just how much the Saints created.
It’s important to remember that this money doesn’t vanish into thin air; it gets added onto future salary cap hits, meaning these players will be more difficult to release down the road. Fortunately, neither Thomas nor Armstead should be in danger of getting moved any time soon.
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