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All-Pro linebacker Demario Davis signed a three-year contract extension with the New Orleans Saints that might be the textbook definition of a team-friendly deal. Davis is averaging just $9 million per year on his new deal, well beneath the top tier of linebacker contracts around the league, but it’s still a step up from the $8 million he was earning on his initial arrangement with the Saints. But he wanted to stay in New Orleans long-term, and it resulted in a deal that made everyone happy.
The Saints were able to lower Davis’s 2020 salary cap hit from $9.9 million (second-highest on the team) to just $5.8 million (seventh-highest, behind backup guard Nick Easton’s $5.84 million) in this extension, which also functioned as a restructure for the existing deal. His current salary cap hits, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill:
- 2020: $5.8 million
- 2021: $8.1 million
- 2022: $9.7 million
- 2023: $10.7 million
Underhill also reported that Davis received an $11 million signing bonus which is prorated over the course of his deal, and that he has a voidable “ghost year” written in for 2024 for salary cap purposes. Davis is a candidate for another restructure in 2021, converting his $3.6 million roster bonus to a signing bonus so that the Saints can recoup some much-needed salary cap space.
The Saints signing Davis and Alvin Kamara to long-term contract extensions over the same weekend might be the best one-two punch they’ve pulled off in recent memory. It sets the team up for success on the field and gives them some real flexibility in working around the salary cap in future years. It’ll be fascinating to see how the front office tackles those new challenges as they come up, but having Davis and Kamara secure on the roster has to be good for their confidence.
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