NFLPA reports updated 2020 Saints salary cap space figure

The NFL Players Association reported that the Saints have 68 players under contract for the 2020 season, limiting their salary cap space.

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Pinning down an exact number for how much salary cap space NFL teams have to work with is a difficult business. Transactions happen almost daily this time of the year, in-between free agency and the draft, and the problem is compounded by innovative teams like the New Orleans Saints. The Saints are more creative in their contract structures than most outfits around the league, leading to a constantly-shifting salary cap space outlook.

Thankfully, the NFL Players Association does its part to keep the public in the know. They’ve released an updated salary cap space report for each NFL team, detailing how many contracts each team has on the books as well as their current amount of spending-room.

For the Saints, the NFLPA report estimates them to be $4,279,857 beneath the 2020 salary cap, with 68 players signed (of a possible 90). That would include the contracts with cornerback P.J. Williams and offensive lineman Cameron Tom, the details of which were recently reported by Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football.

Underhill reports that Williams returned with a 2020 cap hit of just over $2 million (accounting for a $1.87 million base salary and a $137,500 signing bonus, both fully-guaranteed). Tom, however, will count just $850,000 against the Saints salary cap with a base salary of $750,000 and a $100,000 signing bonus. His deal includes a $37,500 incentive for being active in Week 1.

While the Saints will need some salary cap space to sign their rookie class, it won’t amount for much, and it’s also a number they can already estimate based off their draft slots. But we shouldn’t expect any more big moves unless the Saints first work out a restructure or two with some of the highly-paid members of the team.

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Saints bring back versatile offensive lineman Cameron Tom

The New Orleans Saints brought back another one of their free agents, when versatile backup guard/center Cameron Tom re-signed with the team

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While the New Orleans Saints are one of the few teams returning a highly-rated offensive line intact with all five starters, things aren’t as stable as they appear on the surface in 2020. The team re-signed injury-prone left guard Andrus Peat to a huge contract with $33 million guaranteed in the first few years, possibly their first misstep of free agency. They also aren’t high on the performance of right guard Larry Warford, whose play declined in 2019 when his conditioning left a bit to be desired. Those frustrations have left some outlets speculating that Warford could be moved on draft day for the right price.

So it’s a good thing the Saints brought back one of their own free agents to back up the interior trio of Peat, Warford, and second-year center Erik McCoy. The official NFL transactions wire reported that the Saints re-signed offensive lineman Cameron Tom, who spent the 2019 season recovering from a shoulder injury suffered late in the summer.

Tom initially signed with the Saints as a center out of Southern Mississippi (To The Top!) back in 2017, developing on the practice squad with the help of NFL-quality coaching. He ended up playing 178 snaps on offense as a backup guard in 2018, appearing in 11 different games (and starting that year’s regular season finale against the Carolina Panthers).

Before he went down with that injury in 2019, Tom had competed for snaps at both center and left guard during training camp. While McCoy claimed the starting job at center early in the summer, Tom outplayed free agent acquisition Nick Easton at that spot, earning the backup job behind McCoy while Easton moved his focus to left guard. Tom’s injury ended up forcing former seventh-round pick Will Clapp into the lineup at center when McCoy missed a series late last season.

We should expect a similar situation in 2020, though Tom would be a candidate to replace Warford should the veteran get traded. While the Saints could roll into training camp with some combination of Tom, Easton, and Clapp competing for the starting job at right guard, it doesn’t feel realistic for the Saints to move Warford without first drafting a prospect who could take over for him.

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Saints are the only team in the NFL to issue a first-round RFA tender

The New Orelans Saints did not issue restricted free agent tenders to most of their qualifying players, aside from quarterback Taysom Hill.

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Taysom Hill is the only restricted free agent to get a first round tender pic.twitter.com/FahQRbXiRJ

— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) March 18, 2020

The dust has settled on the sprint to the start of the new league year, and the New Orleans Saints were the only team in the NFL to activate a first-round restricted free agent tender — and they issued it to backup quarterback Taysom Hill.

While a few other teams around the league did use second-round tenders, the majority of qualifying players received original round-level tenders or nothing at all. That was the case for the other Saints restricted free agents, with offensive lineman Cameron Tom, wide receiver Austin Carr, and cornerback Justin Hardee each testing the open market (long snapper Zach Wood agreed to a four-year contract extension).

As for their exclusive-rights free agents: only All-Pro special teams ace J.T. Gray was tendered, with both linebacker Colton Jumper and wide receiver Keith Kirkwood allowed to look for other offers. The decision to let Kirkwood go is disappointing given the hype he earned in training camp last summer, but a yearlong hamstring injury kept him off the field for much of the 2019 season.

That said, Kirkwood’s chances of turning it around aren’t over just yet. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reports that Kirkwood could re-sign with the Saints, just not at the rate his exclusive-rights tender would have qualified for.

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What should the Saints do with their 5 restricted free agents?

It’s time for the New Orleans Saints to make contract decisions on restricted free agents like Taysom Hill, Justin Hardee, and Austin Carr.

Many New Orleans Saints players are set to enter unrestricted free agency, giving them the opportunity to negotiate with new teams and potentially land a big payday. However, five of their teammates are going into March’s signing period with restricted free agency status. Here’s what that means.

Restricted free agents can negotiate with other teams, but their current squad can claim the right of first refusal through exercising one of several different one-year contract tenders. But the ability to match contract offers comes with a price.

The latest projections from Over The Cap suggest tender values in the range of $4,667,000 (for first-round pick compensation) to $3,278,000 (second-round pick compensation), and $2,144,000 (for original-round draft pick compensation). Those totals are fully-guaranteed against the salary cap.

New Orleans doesn’t have a good history with restricted free agency. They have only used the lowest tender level in recent memory, and rarely matched opposing contract offers. They let wide receiver Willie Snead leave uncontested when the Baltimore Ravens signed him to a two-year, $7 million deal in 2018. Backup tight end Josh Hill signed a three-year, $7.5 million offer sheet with the Chicago Bears in 2016, but the Saints matched it and extended him again in 2018.

They didn’t even tender defensive tackle Tyrunn Walker back in 2015, despite it only costing about $1.54 million at the time and Walker having shown some rare bright spots in a historically-bad defense (the Detroit Lions signed him to a one-year, $1.75 million deal, and re-upped him the next season). He’s an example of a player the Saints hoped they could keep on a veteran’s minimum salary, which is obviously a riskier option.

But things are projecting differently in 2020. There’s a good chance the Saints exercise one of the more-valuable tender options; in fact, they may have to. They could also work out long-term contract extensions if they so choose; Saints kicker Wil Lutz did just that last year, when he was a restricted free agent. Here are the five Saints players that qualify, and what the team should do with each of them.

Justin Hardee, cornerback

Hardee’s had an interesting career path, and now he’s one of the Saints’ central special teams aces. He plays often on the punt and kickoff units, and led the team in snaps played in the game’s third phase (362) last season, outpacing even Craig Robertson (324) and Taysom Hill (286). He’s someone the Saints coaches have invested years of development in, and should definitely try to keep around for the future.

The question they have to ask now is how much Hardee’s contributions are worth. He doesn’t play defense (just 37 snaps logged last season) and is still learning the position’s finer points after entering the NFL as a wide receiver. He can’t be counted on just yet to be a top backup behind Marshon Lattimore and Janoris Jenkins. But his presence on special teams speaks for itself, and the Saints might do well to sign him to the lowest contract tender, then wait and see whether the market can set a price on his long-term contract value.

Verdict: Sign him to a right-to-match tender.

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