Tag: cap hits

4 potential Saints salary cap casualties in 2024

The Saints boxed themselves into a corner with so many contract restructures. They don’t have many possible cap casualties in 2024:

The New Orleans Saints are dealing with another challenging salary cap situation in 2024, but they’ve boxed themselves into a corner in at least one way: there aren’t many contracts they can tear up and save much money against the cap. Years of restructures and heavy guarantees have caught up to them and some players who aren’t meeting expectations don’t necessarily fit the description of a cap casualty. There just aren’t many players the Saints can let go and recoup many savings.

That’s not say everyone’s safe. There are some players who could be moved ahead of free agency and the 2024 NFL draft when salary cap resources matter most. With that in mind, here’s a look at some players who are in a precarious position:

These 54 Saints players are under contract for 2024 season

These 54 New Orleans Saints players are under contract for the 2024 season. A lot of starters will be returning:

The New Orleans Saints are turning attention to 2024, and they’re in better shape than their salary cap situation would have you think. While they’re in the red by a wider margin than any other team, it’s not like the Saints have a ton of players they’ll need to re-sign — they have 54 players under contract for the 2024 season, 14th-most around the league (55 if you count Andrus Peat, which you shouldn’t, because his contract expires on March 13).

Of course it’s more complicated than that, as it always is with this team. The Saints must choose whether to release or extend Michael Thomas and Jameis Winston by mid-March or else take on crippling cap penalties. But they are technically under contract right now, so we’ll count them until that changes.

With that in mind, here’s a quick look at the state of the Saints’ roster for 2024 (and you can find the full list of pending free agents here) along with their salary cap hits:

Saints’ 10 heaviest cap hits in 2023 include 2 players no longer with team

The New Orleans Saints’ heaviest salary cap hits in 2023 include two players no longer with the team. Sometimes that’s the cost of doing business:

Good news, everyone: the New Orleans Saints only have $29.2 million in dead money on the books this year. With the 2023 season kicking off in just a few days it’s the perfect time to take stock of the Saints’ accounting and how it compares to other teams around the league.

Remember, dead money is the amount leftover from restructuring contracts with players who are no longer on the team by converting salaries into signing bonuses and spreading out the cap hits to make dollars stretch a little further. But sometimes (well, often for New Orleans) when players are released from their contracts or leave in free agency, those signing bonus payouts accelerate onto the current-year cap, meaning the Saints are paying for players not on their roster. It isn’t ideal, but sometimes it’s the cost of doing business.

And right now the Saints are carrying just over $29.2 million in dead money — a figure that ranks 12th around the league, and which makes up about 12.9% of their salary cap commitments this season. That’s a far cry from the 21.2% and 26.5% dead money charges the Saints had to work around the last two years. Folks, that’s progress.

But where is all that dead money coming from? And where do the payments rank among the team’s top salary cap hits? More than half of this year’s dead money comes from expired contracts with David Onyemata ($10.1 million) and Marcus Davenport ($7.6 million), both of whom left in free agency. Smaller hits are due for Malcolm Jenkins ($3.9 million), Wil Lutz ($2.4 million), and Deonte Harty ($1.4 million), plus an assortment of minor charges from other players.

Will things get better on this front next year? That’s hard to say. Players whose expiring deals will leave behind dead money in 2024 include Andrus Peat ($13.6 million) and Jameis Winston ($10.6 million), as well as Tre’Quan Smith Smith ($1 million) and Carl Granderson ($80,000). It’s a moot point if any of them re-sign with New Orleans, but that’s the cost of letting them walk in free agency. The Saints will need to make a decision on Michael Thomas, too, but that’s a much more complicated situation (and thus a conversation for another day).

With all that said: here are the Saints’ top 10 cap hits in 2023.

Salary cap expert says these 5 Saints veterans are in dangerous territory

It’s a day that ends in “Y” so an NFL salary cap expert is anxiously studying the Saints’ outlook. They say these five veterans are entering dangerous territory:

It’s a day that ends in “Y” so an NFL salary cap expert is anxiously studying the New Orleans Saints’ outlook. But this time they’re making predictions about it. Over The Cap’s Nick Korte writes that these five Saints veterans are entering dangerous territory, and that they’re in jeopardy of losing their roster spots in 2024.

Using a concept termed “contract fate” created by studying how teams treat veteran players after signing contracts, Korte found five outcomes were possible after players put pens to paper — negative “fates” like termination and pay cuts, along with positive “fates” in extensions and pay raises, along with a “fate” that’s fair for both the player and team in which the contract expires as written.

Korte then studied a sample size of more than 2,000 NFL contracts to find how often each “fate” occurred. And 50.7% of players are terminated before their contracts run out, while another 11.6% take pay cuts; a combined 62.3% of contracts ended with a negative outcome for the player. After breaking it down further into position groups, Korte took a look around the league and put together a list of players with “odds of negative contract fate” in 2023.

In other words, Korte suggests, these players might be fighting for their jobs in 2024. Despite having signed multi-year deals with the Saints, they’ll need to play at a high level in 2023 to return the following season. New Orleans is in the red by more than $63 million next year, though they can reach cap compliance again through another round of their usual restructures. Still, departures are possible.

Let’s break down each case and see whether we agree or disagree with Korte’s assessment:

Saints’ salary cap outlook improving, slowly but surely

The New Orleans Saints’ salary cap outlook is improving, slowly but surely. 2024 isn’t nearly as daunting as it seems | @DillySanders

[anyclip pubname=”2103″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8036″]

The New Orleans Saints salary cap situation is one that gets talked about ad nauseam every single offseason. They’re certainly an unconventional team that on paper looks bad, but they make it work. Things could be making even more of a turn for the better, according to this graph by Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap.

New Orleans’ cap outlook is as strong as it has been in years. As of now, they have very little dead money on their books for next season. They’re still over the projected 2024 cap by $61.7 million, but the Saints can save that money and more by doing their usual restructures. There is $74.8 million in savings on the table if they restructure their contracts with Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramcyzk, Alvin Kamara, Demario Davis, Derek Carr, Taysom Hill and Erik McCoy. That would put them in the clear by $13.1 million next season without making a single cut.

There will be some dead money to deal with, for sure, but not much. Contracts are set to expire next season for some bigger names in Andrus Peat, Jameis Winston, Carl Granderson and Tre’Quan Smith, which will account for some of that dead money though it won’t have much of an effect on their overall cap health. If all of those players leave in 2024 and the salary cap hit reaches the projected figure of $260 million, their combined dead money cap hit will be about $25.3 million, counting for 9.7% of the Saints’ overall spending. That’s very manageable.

Through restructures and extensions with these players and others like Cameron Jordan and Michael Thomas, the Saints can do a lot to help out their money situation again without losing out on any major players. It’s not a simple procedure, so plenty of people will still complain, but the Saints are in a much better spot with the salary cap than they have seen in years.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

10 Saints players carrying salary cap hits over $5M in 2023

There are 10 New Orleans Saints players carrying salary cap hits over $5 million in 2023, reflecting the team’s heavy commitments in them | @DillySanders

The New Orleans Saints are the yearly scourge of those who watch salary cap numbers religiously, but don’t really know how it works. Khai Harley, their vice president of football administration, has made a name for himself for the ‘magic’ he works by keeping the Saints out of trouble every time the bell tolls.

Through practices such as higher than average signing bonuses as opposed to high salary numbers, spreading out the costs and utilizing void years the Saints are able to stretch the money out across longer periods of time so that it doesn’t affect them as much in the current math.

There are 10 Saints making over $5 million this season, but no one making over $15.1 million. There are a lot of players in that middle area rather than one star taking up all of the money. Here are those 10 players making more than that $5 million mark:

New Orleans Saints paying $24.5 million in dead money to 8 former players

The New Orleans Saints are paying $24.5 million in dead money to eight of their former players, including several draft picks:

The New Orleans Saints are paying $24.5 million in dead money to eight of their former players, including several draft picks and a couple of high-profile veterans who left in free agency this spring. That’s the bad news.

Here’s the good news: this is, by far, the lowest dead money total the Saints have carried into the offseason in recent years. It takes up only 10.8% of their 2023 salary cap, compared to challenging portions of 15.9% in 2022 and 18.4% in 2021. After suffering some cap constraints from the COVID-19 and the departures of cornerstone players like Drew Brees, Terron Armstead, and Malcolm Jenkins, the Saints’ salary cap outlook is finally looking healthy.

So where are these dead money payouts going? Here’s what we know thanks to Over The Cap research:

The Saints finally aren’t ranking among NFL dead money leaders

It took a while, but the New Orleans Saints finally aren’t ranking among NFL dead money leaders. They aren’t top-5. They aren’t even top-10:

[anyclip pubname=”2103″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8036″]

It’s taken a while, but the New Orleans Saints finally aren’t ranking among the NFL’s dead money leaders. They aren’t top-5. They aren’t even top-10. For once, the Saints have a very manageable sum of salary cap resources left over from past contracts.

Per Over The Cap’s estimates, the Saints rank at No. 12 around the league with $24.5 million tied up in defunct deals with their former players — the bulk of it accounted for past restructurings with defensive linemen David Onyemata ($10.1 million) and Marcus Davenport ($7.6 million). There are also a couple of recent draft picks who left dead money hits behind, like quarterback Ian Book ($336,790), tight end Adam Trautman ($208,073), and defensive lineman Jordan Jackson ($132,516).

Now, let’s be clear: $24.5 million is a lot of money. Getting better production out of those draft picks and managing contract situations with veterans would have curbed costs. But it’s a steep drop from where they’ve been before (and it should be noted that it’s 10.8% of the 2023 salary cap). This time last summer, in the wake of defensive back Malcolm Jenkins’ retirement, New Orleans held a staggering $33.3 million dead money charge which ranked sixth-highest in the NFL (15.9% of the 2022 salary cap). That was comparable to the $33.7 million they shouldered in 2021 (taking up 18.4% of the 2021 salary cap).

The Saints have expressed a desire this offseason to begin managing the salary cap more responsibly so they aren’t paying so much money towards guys who aren’t on their roster. This is a positive step in the right direction, and it’ll pay off in a big way in the years ahead. New Orleans currently sits under the 2023 salary cap by about $11 million, give or take a couple hundred thousand dollars, and they’re in good shape to add more experienced talent as the offseason continues.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Packers have 8 players with a salary cap hit over $5M in 2023

The Packers have eight (current) players with a cap hit over $5M and four with a cap hit over $10M in 2023.

[anyclip pubname=”2103″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8036″]

A Green Bay Packers roster that is getting younger and had to fit in a $40 million dead cap hit for Aaron Rodgers will feature four players with a cap hit over $10 million and just eight with a cap hit over $5 million during the 2023 season.

Here are the Packers’ biggest cap hits in 2023:

1. LT David Bakhtiari: $21,336,249
2. DL Kenny Clark: $12,905,000
3. OLB Rashan Gary: $10,892,000
4. CB Jaire Alexander: $10,755,765
5. RB Aaron Jones: $8,197,000
6. OL Elgton Jenkins: $6,967,383
7. OLB Preston Smith: $6,372,000
8. LB De’Vondre Campbell: $5,527,882

All other cap hits on the roster are under $5 million.

The team’s four biggest cap hits account for roughly 36 percent of the team’s current top 51 contracts counted on the 2023 salary cap. Bakhtiari’s cap number is the 27th highest among NFL players. Clark’s cap number ranks 100th among NFL players.

To offset some of the top-heavy deals, the Packers have 14 players with a cap hit between $1.5 million and $5.0 million.

The Packers have an astounding $57.1 million in dead money on the cap (third-most, behind Buccaneers, Rams) in 2023, including $40.3 million from trading Rodgers. Unsigned safety Adrian Amos has a dead cap hit of $7,950,000, which is the team’s seventh largest cap hit this season. Voided deals for Dean Lowry, Jarran Reed, Randall Cobb, Marcedes Lewis, Mason Croby and Robert Tonyan account for another $8 million in dead money charges.

The dead money for trading Rodgers to the Jets would actually represent the biggest cap hit in the NFL in 2023. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes otherwise has the biggest cap hit ($39.7 million).

Last season, the Packers had nine cap numbers over $5 million and three over $10 million.

Where do the Saints rank in salary cap spending at each position?

Where do the New Orleans Saints rank in salary cap spending at each position?

There isn’t a team that manages the salary cap more creatively than the New Orleans Saints, who use clever contract structuring and payout loopholes to maximize their resources. But where do they rank in positional spending around the league?

Over The Cap has a positional spending table which plots out the Saints’ salary cap commitments at each group. For a team stocked with many aging veterans and recent free agent acquisitions, they rank just inside the top half of the league at many positions.

Here’s a look at how the Saints’ spending stacks up on both offense and defense: