Tag: cap hit

Embattled Saints kicker Wil Lutz returns on a pay cut for 2023

Embattled Saints kicker Wil Lutz is returning for 2023 after agreeing to a pay cut, though he can win it back through new contract incentives:

The New Orleans Saints have chosen to bring back their embattled kicker Wil Lutz for 2023, but on an important condition: that he agree to a pay cut. ESPN’s Field Yates first reported that the Saints reworked their deal with Lutz to save $1.5 million in salary cap space, which was confirmed by NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill — who adds that this was not a restructure. Instead of carrying a $3.4 million base salary for the upcoming season, Lutz is seeing just $1.9 million.

But he can earn much of it back through incentives added to his contract, per NOF’s Mike Triplett. If Lutz returns to form and does his job well in the fall, he won’t have lost any money. That’s a big “if,” though. He missed the entire 2021 season recovering from core muscle surgery and he looked rusty in 2022. Lutz did improve on extra point attempts, making all 33 of them, but his shakiness on field goals from varying distances was a problem throughout the season. He missed his first 44-yard field goal try in the Saints’ season-ending loss to the Carolina Panthers and had his second attempt (at a distance of 55 yards) blocked.

Of the 20 kickers to attempt 31 or more field goals last season, Lutz is one of four to have connected on fewer than 80% of their tries:

  • Wil Lutz (Saints): 23 of 31 (74.2%)
  • Cade York (Browns): 24 of 32 (75.0%)
  • Brandon McManus (Broncos): 28 of 36 (77.8%)
  • Greg Joseph (Vikings): 26 of 33 (78.8%)

Now Lutz carries the 12th-highest salary cap hit among NFL kickers at $4.12 million, having previously ranked 5th at $5.62 million. He’s in the final year of his contract and the Saints have already brought in some competition by signing Alex Quevedo to a reserve/future deal (he tried out for them last summer), and the lack of guarantees mean the Saints could save more money by releasing Lutz this summer if another kicker outplays him in training camp. He has a lot on the line in 2023.

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Ryan Ramczyk agrees to Saints contract restructure, saving the team $10.3M

Ryan Ramczyk agrees to New Orleans Saints contract restructure, saving the team more $10.3 million against the 2023 salary cap:

The New Orleans Saints restructured their contract with right tackle Ryan Ramczyk to save more than $10.3 million against the 2023 salary cap, as first reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

ESPN’s Field Yates clarified that Ramczyk agreed to convert $12.92 million of his base salary (which had been valued at $14 million) into a singing bonus that will be spread out over the next few years, resulting in current-year savings of $10.336 million. It’s the same tactic the Saints used recently in restructuring their contracts with free safety Marcus Maye and starting center Erik McCoy. Another restructure with Ramczyk was one of several cap-minded roster moves we talked about last week.

This move makes sense — Ramczyk had the third-highest salary cap hit on the team at $21,441,321, so he’ll now be counting against the cap by about $11,105,321. That’s going to help the team reach salary cap compliance, retain talent, and afford new free agents this offseason without having to let go of one of their best players.

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Saints restructure their contract with Erik McCoy, saving $8M against the salary cap

The Saints restructured their contract with starting center Erik McCoy, saving $8 million against the salary cap. It was a move we saw coming:

Here’s the next step in the long process of getting the New Orleans Saints under the 2023 salary cap. ESPN’s Field Yates first reported that the Saints restructured their contract with starting center Erik McCoy, saving $8 million against this year’s spending limit. And it was a move we saw coming after his contract extension last summer.

Our own Ross Jackson explained the salary cap mechanism here: the Saints included a guaranteed $10 million roster bonus that was due March 19, which they planned all along to convert into a signing bonus so the payout would be spread across multiple years for accounting purposes. They also included a void year in 2028 to maximize current-year savings. The end result: instead of counting against the cap for $12.68 million, McCoy’s new cap hit is just $4.68 million.

Additionally, including that void year in the future allows the Saints to more easily restructure McCoy again next year, when he’s set to count against the 2024 cap by $13.7 million. Most of that is tied up in his $9.6 million base salary, which can also be reduced and converted to a signing bonus. So McCoy still gets his money on time, and the Saints maintain salary cap flexibility. So long as he’s healthy and productive, both sides walk away from this deal feeling satisfied.

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Aaron Jones contract details: Packers add another void year to maximize cap savings

The Packers’ restructure of Aaron Jones’ deal added a void year in 2027 and will save $11.816 million on the salary cap in 2023.

The Green Bay Packers added another void year to Aaron Jones’ restructured contract to maximize the savings on the salary cap in 2023.

Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel confirmed the addition of a void year in 2027, meaning Jones’ deal now has void years in 2025, 2026 and 2027. The contract is for five total years – the maximum allowed for bonus proration – but voids following the 2024 season.

Per Ken Ingalls, the restructure slashed $5 million off Jones’ salary in 2023 and will end up saving the Packers $11.816 million on the salary cap this year.

Ingalls has all the details, including the year-by-year structure, on the new deal here:

Jones’ cap hit will be a little under $8.2 million in 2023, down from a little over $20 million originally. His cap hit goes up to $17.7 million in 2024 and will leave behind $6.6 million in dead cap when it voids in 2025. Altogether, it’s a two-year deal worth $32.5 million in cap room spread out over three years.

Adding the third void year in 2027 allowed the Packers to spread out $8.52 million of new signing bonus (roster bonus and base salary conversion) over five years. So while Jones will pocket the signing bonus money up front, the Packers will only count $1.7 million ($8.52 million divided by five years) on the cap in 2023. The team also slashed $5 million from his base salary to add additional savings on the cap and cash paid this year.

Overall, the Packers will pay Jones $23 million over the next two years.

Jones’ original deal (four years, $48 million) was signed in 2021. The Packers have restructured it twice (2022, 2023) in an effort to push money into the future and save money on the cap now.

In terms of cap space following the restructure, the Packers are now $4.7 million over the cap in 2023, per Over the Cap.

In 2024, the Packers could convert more of Jones’ base salary into a signing bonus to lower his cap hit but would add more money to the dead cap hit when the deal voids in 2025.

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Here’s what it would cost for the Saints to pick up Cesar Ruiz’s fifth-year option

Here’s what it would cost for the Saints to pick up Cesar Ruiz’s fifth-year option for 2024. If the Saints don’t exercise it, he’ll be a free agent next offseason:

There we go: Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer shared an NFL memo on Tuesday that confirmed the fifth-year option values for players picked in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft, including New Orleans Saints right guard Cesar Ruiz. We had a good idea of the amount Ruiz was likely going to cost, thanks to the league’s new tiered system, but now it’s official.

If the Saints exercise Ruiz’s fifth-year option for the 2024 season, he’ll count against the salary cap by a fully-guaranteed $14.175 million. They’ve picked up the fifth-year option on every first-round pick New Orleans has drafted since Brandin Cooks back in 2013, and we’ve written before that Ruiz should be an easy decision. It’s a safe bet that they’ll do the same with him before the May 1 deadline.

How are these values decided? All offensive linemen (tackles, guards, and centers) are lumped together, and the different tiers are sorted by Pro Bowl appearances, playtime criteria, and a base level simply for having been a former first-round pick. Over The Cap’s analysts explained the process in detail here. Here’s how they stack up for offensive linemen:

  1. Multiple Pro Bowls: $18,244,000
  2. One Pro Bowl: $16,660,000
  3. Playtime criteria: $14,175,000
  4. Baseline: $13,565,000

One common tactic the Saints have used with these fifth-year options is to restructure them (it’s initially contained within a single base salary) so that much of the cap damage is spread out over automatically-voiding void years in the future. It’s what they did with Marcus Davenport, Marshon Lattimore, and Ryan Ramczyk in the past. Taking that route with Ruiz in 2024 would set his salary cap hit at about $3.8 million, though it risks leaving as much as $10.3 million behind in dead money for 2025 if he doesn’t sign a contract extension.

That’s a risk the Saints have shown they’re willing to take. They were able to lock up Lattimore and Ramczyk under long-term deals, but Davenport is on track to depart in free agency and leave a dead money cap hit of $7.6 million behind. Ruiz’s arrow is trending up, though, and he should earn a solid contract extension with New Orleans after another strong season. If nothing else, picking up his fifth-year option for 2024 buys the Saints some time to put out other fires before turning attention to his situation.

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What would a Saints-Raiders Derek Carr trade look like?

What would a trade sending Derek Carr from the Raiders to the Saints look like? ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that a third-round pick “could get it done”

What would a trade sending Derek Carr from the Las Vegas Raiders to the  New Orleans Saints look like? ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler cites one league source who says Carr could be moved for a third-round pick, but things are a little more complicated with the Saints involved. For what it’s worth, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that a framework is already in place with both sides having agreed on potential trade compensation.

No team is in the red by a wider margin than New Orleans when it comes to the salary cap, and while they could fit Carr’s hefty salary cap hit on the books by restructuring multiple contracts and letting go of some players, it would be easier if they can talk the Raiders into paying some of his salary to facilitate a trade. That’s a move they pulled a few years ago in trading for cornerback Bradley Roby, with the Houston Texans converting most of his salary into a signing bonus so they would take on a dead money cap hit while getting better draft pick compensation from New Orleans.

That could be the move here. Carr’s base salary is set at $32.9 million for 2023, and the Saints would be on the hook for all of it in a straight-up trade. But if they sweeten the deal and offer Las Vegas a better pick, they could reduce that number by as much as $21.2 million. That makes it significantly easier for the Saints to fit him on their books.

There’s the catch, though. Carr would have to agree to a reworked deal and he doesn’t have much incentive to do that when he’ll likely see more guaranteed money as a free agent than in this scenario (Fowler adds that it’s believed Carr wouldn’t sign off on such a reworked deal, too). The Saints could sign him to a multiyear extension upon trading for him, and that topic’s probably what his Wednesday visit in New Orleans is going to focus on. Either way, he’s going to make some more money in the very near future.

So let’s circle back to the trade compensation. Las Vegas has little to no leverage here, with a week to go until their trade deadline and Carr wielding a no-trade clause. On paper, the Saints are approaching this from a position of strength. They could choose to only offer, say, a fifth rounder and tell the Raiders to take it or leave it, and they’ll sign Carr outright as a free agent. Hypothetically.

But that’s missing something crucial: the Saints very likely do not want Carr to reach the open market because they’ll be outbid by teams with more resources. They have an incentive in getting a deal done before that Feb. 15 deadline just like the Raiders do. And if Carr is willing to waive his no-trade clause for multiple teams (though, so far, the Saints are the only franchise scheduling a visit with him) they’ll face immediate compensation. If they’re convinced Carr is their guy, they’ll feel a need to act decisively to lock him down.

Okay, now for why you’re here. The trade proposal. And we’ve got two of them, based on ESPN’s reporting and the established price for trading a mid-level quarterback. Here are two potential trade packages:

  • Saints trade their 2023 third rounder for Carr, no changes to his contract, leaving his salary cap hit at $32.9 million
  • Saints trade their 2023 third rounder and a 2024 fourth rounder for Carr and his reworked contract, reducing his cap hit to $11.7 million

Some fans are going to start hollering about that being an overpay. They might be right. But the Saints have a history of unconventional draft pick valuation and it wouldn’t be a surprise for them to overdo it again here. In a perfect world, the Saints wouldn’t have to trade anything for Carr. They could just wait this out and sign him once he’s a free agent. If they feel a strong sense of urgency, though, they may feel that it’s a better course of action to overspend and cross this off their to-do list early. It isn’t what I would do, but it may be what they choose to do.

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Saints free agent report card: Was Marcus Maye a good veteran signing?

Was Marcus Maye a good veteran signing? He missed time with injuries but brought qualities no one else in the Saints secondary can match:

Was Marcus Maye a good veteran signing? The New Orleans Saints made him a priority after losing longtime starter Marcus Williams to the Baltimore Ravens early in the free agent signing period, and though he missed time with injuries he brought qualities no one else in the Saints secondary could match in 2022.

It remains to be seen how large a role Maye will play in 2023 — he’s been awaiting a DUI suspension since the 2021 offseason, and he has long-lasting injury concerns — but his contract structure suggests he’ll remain in the Saints’ plans moving forward. But should they be looking for his replacement anyway? Let’s recap his 2022 season on our free agent report card:

These 49 Saints players are under contract for 2023 with these terms

These 49 players are under contract for 2023 with the New Orleans Saints on these terms, leading off with Cameron Jordan and Marshon Lattimore:

The New Orleans Saints aren’t lacking for talent. They didn’t meet expectations in 2022, but there’s still plenty to like about their fortunes in 2023 — they have quality players under contract on each side of the ball. If they can solve the biggest problem facing them and find a quality quarterback to start in the fall, they could run away with the NFC South thanks to playing in the weakest division in the league.

But that’s easier said than done, largely because of the contracts paid out to players at so many other positions. Here’s a quick reference for all 49 players signed through 2023; thanks to Over The Cap for providing contract details on salary cap hits, potential dead money if released, and end dates.

Saints free agent review: LB Kaden Elliss, stay or go?

New Orleans Saints free agent review: Linebacker Kaden Elliss made the most of his opportunities in 2022, but will he stay or will he go?

There might not be another player who made the most of his contract year with the New Orleans Saints in 2022 than Kaden Elliss. The veteran linebacker has been cast as a backup since being drafted out of Idaho back in 2019, logging more snaps on special teams (880) than defense (826) in his Saints career. But he got his opportunity to show what he can do when starting linebacker Pete Werner missed a large chunk of the 2022 season with an injury, and now Elliss has the Saints facing a really difficult decision.

Can they afford to let him get out of the building? Demario Davis is likely to retire within the next couple of years, but Elliss won’t be starting if Davis and Werner both return for 2023. It would be nice to make a clean transition from Davis-and-Werner to Werner-and-Elliss, but that’s not going to be an easy trick to pull off. With the Saints still running few three-linebacker looks, odds are Elliss will have other opportunities to start in free agency. Let’s recap his 2022 campaign and forecast his future in 2023:

Saints free agent report card: Was Tyrann Mathieu a good veteran signing?

Was Tyrann Mathieu a good free agent signing? He played almost every snap and led the team in takeaways, but there are some flaws to talk about on his Saints report card:

It’s been a long time since a player joined the New Orleans Saints with as much fanfare as Tyrann Mathieu. The hometown hero returned to New Orleans with lofty expectations as the crown jewel of their free agent class — and after some early-season frustrations, he met them. Now he’s an integral piece of their defense moving forward.

So how do you grade Mathieu’s first season with the Saints? Are those initial struggles worth holding against him, and did he do enough later in the year to make up for them? Let’s review his 2022 season in our free agent report card: