Tag: cap hit

How trading Marshon Lattimore impacts the Saints salary cap

How does trading Marshon Lattimore impact the Saints salary cap? There’s little change this year, but they have to take their medicine in 2025:

The New Orleans Saints shifted gears and finally traded star cornerback Marshon Lattimore this week, just before the NFL trade deadline, sending thee playmaker to the Washington Commanders in exchange for multiple draft picks. But that isn’t the only cost of trading him. How did this move impact the Saints’ tense salary cap situation?

In brief, this will be felt for years. There isn’t much of a difference on 2024’s accounting since we’re in the middle of the season. Washington is paying the rest of Lattimore’s salary, saving the Saints about $605,000, but since he restructured his contract already they’re stuck with most of the dead money from those guarantees.

Let’s start with the bad news. The Saints are taking their medicine in 2025 with Lattimore counting against the cap by a whopping $31.6 million. Next year’s salary cap is projected to rise to about $273.3 million, but we won’t know the final number until the offseason. If it doesn’t move at all (it won’t), Lattimore’s dead money figure would take up 12.4% of this year’s cap, which was set at $255.4 million. If models are accurate, it’ll be almost 11.6% of the cap next year in 2025.

But the Saints shaved off more than $28 million from their 2026 salary cap spending. The cap is projected to reach as high as $292.4 million by then, which means their current cap commitments (about $237.9 million) are well beneath the spending limit. Inevitable restructures, free agent signings, and the next draft class will change that figure but so will any retirements and roster cuts this spring. We’re talking two years out so of course there’s going to be a lot of uncertainty.

This is a step in the right direction. The Saints didn’t get better by trading their best defender (if not their best player regardless of position), but their finances are going to improve. So is their ability to retain talent and sign upgrades in free agency. This is what a rebuild looks like. It isn’t pretty, and it won’t wrap up overnight. But the Saints tried the alternative — which blew up in their faces by hiring the wrong head coach and drafting the wrong players. So now they have to take the long, hard road back to success.

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Early extension saved Saints a ton of money against the 2025 salary cap

An early extension with Alvin Kamara saved the Saints a ton of money against the 2025 salary cap. Next year’s cap gymnastics just got easier:

Now that’s some crafty accounting, but we’ve come to expect it from the New Orleans Saints. Alvin Kamara reached an agreement on a two-year extension with the Saints this week, and NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that the move is saving the team some money when it comes to the 2025 salary cap. Kamara’s early extension opened up about $18 million in savings on next year’s spending limit.

So how did the Saints manage to pay Kamara more money while spending less against the cap? We’ll know more when further details are shared about his deal’s structure, but NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill shares that it includes a $15.5 million signing bonus and $22.23 million in guarantees.

Kamara was initially on the books for 2025 at a staggering cap hit north of $29 million, with $25 million of it non-guaranteed, which made him a possible salary cap casualty. Instead, the Saints guaranteed a big portion of it but spread it out as a signing bonus (likely with their signature automatically-voiding “ghost years” tacked on).

The end result? Kamara’s 2025 cap hit should now fall at around $11 million, which is very manageable. And the Saints should now have somewhere close to $324 million in cap liabilities. Depending on where you look the 2025 salary cap is projected to rise to as high as $273 million, though more conservative models put it at just $260 million. The Saints still need to clear  at least $64 million before they can turn to signing new players, but that’s a problem for another day.

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Saints restructure Juwan Johnson’s contract to open up some cap space

The Saints restructured Juwan Johnson’s contract to open up some cap space before the regular season starts:

https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/1831452392011002098

The NFL regular season is upon us, and some teams are completing last-minute moves to cut new deals and work around the salary cap — including the New Orleans Saints. ESPN’s Field Yates reports that the Saints restructured their contract with tight end Juwan Johnson to free up $3.5 million in salary cap space.

Remember, this isn’t a raise or a pay cut. Johnson is just getting money he was already owed paid out in a different way. For the Saints, the goal was to save $3.5 million against the salary cap. The consequence? If Johnson does not sign an extension next year and leave in free agency, it’ll leave behind about $6 million in dead money. That’s nothing compared to the hefty cap hits left behind for departed free agents like Andrus Peat ($13.6 million), Michael Thomas ($11.1 million), David Onyemata ($10.1 million) and Marcus Davenport ($7.6 million), but it’s still something you’d like to avoid.

Hopefully Johnson performs well in Klint Kubiak’s offense and earns a new deal. Getting him under contract for the foreseeable future as a playmaking tight end and reliable weapon for Derek Carr (or whoever is under center in New Orleans by 2025) would be nice. But those are questions to be answered tomorrow. For today, the Saints are happy to have a little more financial flexibility, while Johnson is happy to have a little more financial security.

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Bleacher Report says Saints have given out two of the worst contracts in the NFL

Bleacher Report says the Saints have given out two of the worst contracts in the NFL. We won’t argue about Derek Carr, but they need to lay off of Taysom Hill:

It’s June, which means it’s time for NFL writers to sit back and browse Over The Cap so they can grade teams’ homework. And as always, they’re quick to criticize how the New Orleans Saints spend their money. Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon says the Saints have given out two of the worst contracts in the NFL.

We won’t argue about Derek Carr, but they need to lay off of Taysom Hill. Here’s why Kenyon ranks Hill’s contract sixth-worst in the league:

I’m sure I’ve said it before: The idea of Taysom Hill has consistently been more exciting than his actual performance.

Sure, he had a career-best season with 692 scrimmage yards last season. His versatility is both fascinating and useful for the New Orleans Saints, who utilize Hill at four offensive positions and on special teams.

He is simply not worth the price, however.

This season, after restructuring his contract for a third straight year, the Saints are staring at a $9.2 million cap number. That figure ascends to nearly $18 million in 2025, although New Orleans could—and probably should—make him a post-June 1 cut to save $10 million.

Hill can catch on elsewhere next offseason, but he’s too expensive for someone who might play 50 percent of snaps.

Let’s check those numbers. Of the 184 players with a cap hit over $9 million, including Hill, 99 of them play offense, and 19 of them are starting quarterbacks. Remove the quarterbacks and offensive linemen and you’re left with 42 skills position players who make up Hill’s peers. And out of that group, he’s one of 21 who scored at least six touchdowns last season. Whittle it down further and you’ll find he tied with Courtland Sutton in converting 37 first downs as a runner and receiver, ahead of guys like David Njoku (35) and Mark Andrews (27, though he missed seven games with an injury). That’s right behind Cole Kmet (38) and Brandin Cooks (39). Hill may not draw a hundred targets or a dozen carries per game, but he consistently makes plays when given an opportunity.

The Saints aren’t paying Hill to be an every-down player; they value his utility and work on special teams on top of what he can do with the ball in his hands. And if early returns at spring training is anything to go off of, he’ll have a heavier workload with Klint Kubiak calling plays instead of Pete Carmichael. NFL writers like to point to 49ers fullback Kyle Jusczyk, an eight-time Pro Bowler, as an example of how Hill ought to be used (and, that implies, paid). Jusczyk has earned $40.57 million in his NFL career. Hill has brought in $42.67 million while scoring more touchdowns and gaining more yards than Jusczyk in 83 fewer games, including the playoffs. Still, Kubiak is installing some plays that Jusczyk ran well and that could put Hill in a better position to make more plays.

But enough about Hill. Kenyon ranked Derek Carr’s contract third-worst in the NFL, and he isn’t wrong to do so:

You’d think the perpetual state of living in salary-cap hell would be exhausting for New Orleans, right?

As usual, nonetheless, the Saints used restructures to open space for the next season. This year, it was an expected adjustment with Derek Carr to clear $23 million in 2024.

However, the change also increased his upcoming cap hits to north of $50 and 60 million in 2025 and 2026, respectively. There’s no realistic “out” until 2027, and that assumes no updates to his deal next offseason—which, again, is usually not how New Orleans operates.

Even if the Saints were to make him a post-June 1 cut, their best-case scenario is more than $21 million in dead cap in 2025.

The Saints gave Carr a big bag last season, telling their fans and all the world that they believed Carr was good enough to be the face of their franchise; someone who was talented enough to fix an underperforming offense and guide them back to the playoffs. That didn’t happen. Carr’s shortcomings got the entire offensive coaching staff fired at the end of the year and the Saints are stuck with him for at least another season. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got back to the postseason with Baker Mayfield playing on a $4 million deal after being cast out by his old team just like Carr.

At least the early word out of spring practices is encouraging. Carr hasn’t seemed to experience as many of the early struggles he’s known for when learning a new system, and Kubiak’s emphasis on motion and play action passing — something Carr has executed well throughout his career — could be good for him. It needs to be. Because, as Kenyon said, the Saints are going to be starting Carr in 2024 and likely 2025, too. Maybe Jake Haener or Spencer Rattler develops into someone who could viably take Carr’s job in a year or two, but that’s a long time to sit around and wait. It’s best for everyone if Carr picks up Kubiak’s offense quickly and dispels the narratives surrounding him. Until that happens his contract is going to keep weighing the team down.

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Alvin Kamara exits Saints minicamp early amid contract dispute

Alvin Kamara exited New Orleans Saints minicamp early amid a contract dispute. It’s in both sides’ interest to cut a deal:

Here we go. Alvin Kamara left the final New Orleans Saints minicamp practice early on Thursday due to a contract dispute, as first reported by the Times-Picayune’s Luke Johnson, NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill confirmed the news, adding that “there hasn’t been much progress” in ongoing talks about an extension with the star running back, which was corroborated by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, citing Kamara’s agent Brad Cicala. Kamara wants a new deal, and the Saints are at least willing to talk shop. But the two sides are too far apart as we move into the summer.

Kamara has the highest salary cap hit on the team right now ($18.5 million), most of it coming from his $10.2 million base salary. While he’s technically under contract for 2025, his cap hit skyrockets to $29 million, most of it coming from an unguaranteed $22.4 million base salary. The Saints would extend or release him before paying that, so he’s attempting to force their hand and accelerate the timeline — with the goal being a new deal.

It’s in both sides’ interest to shake hands and put pens to paper. The Saints don’t have another proven running back on the roster. They only got one game with a healthy and productive Kendre Miller last year. Jamaal Williams was a poor fit in Pete Carmichael’s offense and it remains to be seen whether Klint Kubiak can do a better job using his talents. At the same time, Kamara isn’t going to get a better contract offer on the open market than he’ll find in New Orleans. Sure there would be teams interested in him, but look at the latest big-money contracts handed out to veteran free agents:

  • Saquon Barkley: $12.58 million per year
  • Josh Jacobs: $12 million per year
  • Derrick Henry: $8 million per year
  • D’Andre Swift: $8 million per year
  • Tony Pollard: $7.25 million per year
  • Aaron Jones: $7 million per year

Kamara is older than everyone in that group besides Henry and Jones, so those are the two closest comparisons we should look at it. The Saints might be willing to pay Kamara closer to the high end of this scale. Other teams likely won’t. On top of the money involved he won’t have to learn a new offense and acclimate to a new locker room halfway through the offseason. He’s been in the building and working on the field while speaking eagerly about his fit in Klint Kubiak’s system. This shouldn’t be a high-stakes negotiations, but something has to give.

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Saints restructure Taysom Hill’s contract, opening up a lot of salary cap space

The New Orleans Saints restructured Taysom Hill’s contract, opening up a lot of salary cap space. What could be their next move?

This is interesting. ESPN’s Katherine Terrell reports that the New Orleans Saints restructured Taysom Hill’s contract, opening up a lot of salary cap space; after drifting near $5 million in cap clearance by signing their rookie draft class and a couple of veteran free agents, they’re now in the clear by $12 million.

The Saints did this, per Terrell, by converting $8.79 million of Hill’s base salary into a signing bonus that will be paid out over subsequent years for accounting purposes. Hill went from owning the second-highest salary cap hit on the team ($15.7 million) to sixth-highest ($9.1 million). The team went from ranking 32nd in cap space to 22nd, so this may have just been about creating more breathing-room.

But what if there’s another shoe about to drop? Recommitting to Hill and making it tougher to trade or release him in the future wasn’t done for nothing. Maybe the Saints are working on a trade or big (relative to June) free agent signing. More likely is that they’re working on extensions with some players in the building. Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed are ineligible to sign new deals until March 2025, but guys like Paulson Adebo, Pete Werner, and Alvin Kamara might make sense if they’re part of the long-term vision for the team. Stay tuned.

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Grading the Saints’ signing of former 49ers DE Chase Young

We know the contract terms and 2024 salary cap hit. So how do you grade the Saints’ signing of Chase Young? Here’s our take:

It took a while for all the details to come to light, but now we know the structure, risks, and true costs of Chase Young’s contract with the New Orleans Saints. So now the fun part: evaluating it with a simple letter grade.

This is complicated, so stay with us. Young signed a one-year contract carrying $13 million in guarantees, and so long as he’s active and healthy for all 17 games, he’ll see every dollar. But his salary cap hit in 2024 is just over $3.4 million. How did the Saints do that? Why not pay it off all at once?

Young’s contract is structured to include $7.99 million in 17 per-game roster bonuses, of which 16 are treated as a signing bonus for accounting purposes. So they’re guaranteed now and spread out over the next five years to more easily fit on the books. The Saints will get a $470,000 cap credit next year for any games that Young misses in 2024.

So if this is a one-and-done deal the Saints will be paying $3.4 million for Young in 2024 and as much as $9.1 million in 2025 as dead money. If Young misses extensive time that 2025 dead money figure goes down significantly. It’s about as team-friendly a deal as it gets while also making concessions for the player. Young has a lot of incentive to recover quickly from offseason neck surgery and get back on the field in time for Week 1.

But Young is worth the risks. When he’s healthy, engaged, and firing on all cylinders he looks like the best pass rusher in the NFL. The Saints are hoping to get that version of him more than what the San Francisco 49ers saw after trading for Young last year: a slow-footed player who shied away from contact, and who they allowed to leave in free agency without a fight.

Grade: B

So with all this in mind, we’re grading this move with a B. Young looks like a good pickup, not a great one, and his availability is our greatest concern. It’s reassuring that the Saints protected themselves financially but fans have seen too many talented defensive ends go missing for weeks on end because of injuries in recent years. Hopefully Young can end that streak rather than continue it.

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Saints guaranteed every dollar of Chase Young’s $13 million contract

The New Orleans Saints guaranteed every dollar of Chase Young’s $13 million contract. But his real salary cap hit might be much lower:

Whew. This is a big deal. The New Orleans Saints guaranteed every dollar of their $13 million contract with free agent defensive end Chase Young, as reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter and confirmed by CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson.

But as is always the case with this team, don’t expect that to mean a simple $13 million salary cap charge on their accounting books. Depending on how this deal is structured, Young’s cap hit for 2024 could be as low as $3.5 million. Here’s how the accounting would look with four “ghost years” set to void at the end of the 2024 league year:

  • 2024 salary: $1,125,000; signing bonus proration: $2,375,000
  • 2025 signing bonus proration: $2,375,000
  • 2026 signing bonus proration: $2,375,000
  • 2027 signing bonus proration: $2,375,000
  • 2028 signing bonus proration: $2,375,000

The risk in doing this is that the Saints would be left with a dead money cap charge of $9.5 million next offseason should Young not re-sign on a new deal.

But the Saints have shown us before they’re comfortable paying that if need be. Andrus Peat is counting against the cap by more than $13.6 million and Marcus Maye has a dead money hit of $8.1 million for 2024 — and they both visited the Tennessee Titans on Monday as free agents who the Saints chose to let go. They paid comparable dead money hits in 2023 for David Onyemata ($10.1 million) and Marcus Davenport ($7.6 million).

If this is the route the Saints go, choosing to create short-term flexibility while jeopardizing future cap resources, it’s only a problem if Young fails to perform as expected in 2024. If he turns out to be a free agent bust and both sides move on, well: the Saints will have bigger problems to worry about  than where 3.4% of their salary cap is going. It’ll mean the pass rush failed to show up, again, and that the team lost a lot of games. And that Dennis Allen probably isn’t their head coach anymore. So when you take a big-picture view, this isn’t as big a gamble for the Saints at it might look at first glance.

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Updated Saints salary cap space after extending Tyrann Mathieu

How did extending Tyrann Mathieu and tendering Rashid Shaheed impact the Saints’ salary cap? Here’s an update on how much more space New Orleans must clear:

It isn’t really accurate to say we’re updating the New Orleans Saints’ salary cap space situation — the team doesn’t have any space under the cap right now because they’re still over the cap by about $10.7 million. But a couple of recent moves have changed the situation, so let’s take stock of where things currently stand.

Per Over The Cap’s experts, the Saints are currently in the red by an estimated $10,602,3364. Now that only reflects the information and roster moves which have been made publicly available. It’s very possible that the Saints have already checked all their boxes and reached cap compliance without leaking anything to the media. It’s not like they’re frantically working to beat the deadline (next Wednesday at 3 p.m. CT).

And two recent moves changed that projection. The Saints signed starting safety Tyrann Mathieu to a new two-year contract valued at $13.5 million, with a salary cap hit of just $5,567,000 for 2024. That pushed them down to a nearly-level $10.5 million level over the spending limit.

But another shoe dropped when the Saints tendered Pro Bowl returns specialist Rashid Shaheed, an exclusive rights free agent. That costs $985,000 against the cap. Because only the top 51 cap hits count on the books at this time of the year, Shaheed pushed a lesser-valued contract of $795,000 (there’s six different players all carrying that number) beneath the threshold. So the true cost to the cap was only $190,000, meaning the Saints are in the red by $10,792,634.

At least at the time of writing. More moves are on the way. Obvious dominoes yet to fall include cap hits for right tackle Ryan Ramczyk ($27 million), running back Alvin Kamara ($18.7 million), linebacker Demario Davis ($18.1 million) and do-it-all weapon Taysom Hill ($15.7 million). There are other levers the Saints can pull if they really want to max out their cap resources, but those are the big ones to watch.

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Saints reach agreement with Tyrann Mathieu on a contract extension

The Saints reached an agreement with Tyrann Mathieu on a new contract, keeping him in New Orleans through 2025:

This is good news: The New Orleans Saints reached an agreement with veteran safety Tyrann Mathieu on a new contract, which will keep him on the team through 2025. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill first reported news of his Mathieu’s deal, adding that it will lower his salary cap hit in 2024 from $12,067,000 “to about $5.5 million.”

But this isn’t just a restructure. It’s an extension, which CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson reports that his new deal is valued at $13 million. Mathieu was already under contract for 2024 but it was the last year of his deal, so he and the Saints agreed to add another year to it. He will now be a free agent in 2026 with the option to continue playing after his 33rd birthday or call it a career.

He’s been a good pickup for New Orleans. Mathieu has played 100% of the team’s defensive snaps in 2022 and 99% of them in 2023 while being credited with 7 interceptions, 17 passes deflected, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery to go along with 166 combined tackles through two years. With Marcus Maye being released at the start of the new league year, Mathieu is going to have to take on even more of a leadership role in the Saints’ secondary. He’s done well in that role thus far, and can close out his career doing it for his hometown.

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