11 potential salary cap casualties the Saints could target in NFL free agency

We’re still weeks away from the start of NFL free agency, but teams are already beginning to make moves with a wave of salary cap casualties sweeping across the league’s landscape. Teams are always looking to save some cash and part ways with underperforming players or open up room for acquiring new talent, and it’s an opportunity for cap-strapped teams like the New Orleans Saints to improve.

Often the players being let go right now are still effective in the right role and at the right price point. One major benefit to signing them after being let go is that they don’t factor into the league’s compensatory draft picks formula. Another upside is that their contracts frequently include offsetting payouts which helps balance out the new team’s salary. At the same time, teams are moving on from these guys for good reasons, and expectations should be matched accordingly.

Here are some players who could be on the outs with their current teams that the Saints should be monitoring closely:

Which Saints should be untouchable in 2021 cap cuts, trade talks?

The New Orleans Saints shouldn’t move Michael Thomas or Alvin Kamara in 2021. Doing so would hurt their salary cap outlook, not help it.

The New Orleans Saints’ roster is going to look very different in 2021. That’s just a fact; with changes coming in every phase of the game, upheaval is coming for almost every position group. Drew Brees is poised for retirement, while Thomas Morstead is in peril after his worst year as a pro. Defensive starters like Marcus Williams, Trey Hendrickson, Sheldon Rankins, and Alex Anzalone are headed for free agency.

So we should expect the Saints to bring in plenty of new faces. Salary cap commitments will be a consideration, as always, and almost everyone could come up in trade talks with other teams.

But there is a handful of players who should be untouchable due to their contract status. For this group, it would cost the Saints more to trade or release them than it will to keep them around — the math doesn’t check out on moving them for the sake of saving cap space.

You’ll usually see the salary cap hits for players not on the roster anymore referred to as “dead money,” but for illustrative purposes I’ll avoid doing that here. Let’s do a quick review, with all contract numbers via OverTheCap.com:

5 potentially painful 2021 Saints salary cap casualties

The New Orleans Saints might have to say goodbye to productive, expensive players as salary cap casualties in the 2021 offseason.

So, how will the New Orleans Saints remain competitive in 2021? Their issues aren’t just limited to complying with the salary cap — once they’re back beneath it, they have to focus on creating more resources to reload their roster after losing some of the 21 free agents crowding around the exits. Saints salary cap guru Khai Hartley (official title: vice president of football administration) will have to put together his magnum opus in navigating it all this year.

It doesn’t help that the list of possible cap casualties isn’t as obvious as you’d think. Linebacker Kwon Alexander ($13.4 million if released) and cornerback Janoris Jenkins ($7 million in possible savings) are both candidates to be let go, but Alexander’s injury clouds things, and both of them played well enough for the Saints to try and retain them through pay cuts or restructured contracts.

There are other options if the Saints get really desperate (like tight end Josh Hill, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, and quarterback Taysom Hill, each of whom can between $2.6 million and $5 million if cut), but that’s only in a worst-case scenario where every other possible maneuver new Orleans tries isn’t enough. The other players on this list should be easier decisions to make. Still, we’re headed for lean times in New Orleans as the team transitions from one era to another, and some good players are going to end up on the outside looking in because of it.

Will the Saints make another run at signing recently-cut Josh Norman?

The New Orleans Saints tried to sign Josh Norman once before, and he’s now available again after the Washington Redskins reportedly cut him.

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The Washington Redskins are reportedly releasing veteran cornerback Josh Norman, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. Norman was due more than $15 million against the 2020 salary cap, but his sagging level of play made it unlikely that he would reunite with new head coach Ron Rivera, who worked with him on the Carolina Panthers earlier in Norman’s career.

It creates an interesting situation for the New Orleans Saints, for several reasons. Norman only signed with Washington in the first place simply because they beat the Saints to the punch — New Orleans was the second team to approach Norman about joining them when the Panthers rescinded the franchise tag back in 2016. Saints recruiting efforts had reached contract restructuring discussions with Drew Brees to make room for Norman beneath the salary cap before he ultimately chose to move to D.C.

However, Norman is a very different player now than he was then. He’s 32 and coming off one of his worst years as a pro, having received a Pro Football Focus grade of 45.6; that ranks 111 out of 113 qualifying cornerbacks. If the Saints were to pursue Norman, they would be unlikely to offer him a starting job. He certainly won’t have leverage to ask for significant contract demands.

That said: it’s not impossible to imagine the Saints making a run at him. New Orleans has just three cornerbacks under contract right now, and two of them could be salary cap casualties themselves. Releasing Janoris Jenkins would free up $11.25 million, while cutting Patrick Robinson would make $3.65 million in cap space. The Saints are at a point where they simply need to start adding warm bodies to the depth chart, and it’s no guarantee that starters Eli Apple and P.J. Williams return after testing the free agent market. The Saints have started worse players than Norman, who we have to stress would probably be seen as a backup.

There’s one more wrinkle to consider. Because Norman was released outright, he won’t count against the compensatory draft pick formula for 2021. While the Saints rarely qualify for compensatory picks due to their activity in free agency, their abundance of expiring contracts means they could have a quieter offseason than usual this year. They could check off the “add a veteran cornerback” box on their list of offseason needs by signing Norman and still recoup a draft pick next year should in-house free agents like Teddy Bridgewater or Vonn Bell leave for new teams.

Of course, the argument against signing Norman is that he’s very much near the end of his career. The Saints could use the resources in signing him to add a younger player with a higher ceiling, or bring back someone like Apple or Williams. Just two years ago they believed signing Kurt Coleman in similar circumstances would give the secondary some much-needed experience and playmaking ability on the back end, but he was a liability by midseason. That could be a cautionary tale still fresh in the minds of Saints shot-callers like Sean Payton.

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Ranking the Saints defensive position groups going into 2020 offseason

Which position group reigns supreme for the New Orleans Saints defense, and where must they add upgrades? Cornerback, linebacker stand out.

The New Orleans Saints have a number of questions to ask themselves this offseason, many of them surrounding starters headed for free agency either this March or next year. Most of those starters play defense, including names like cornerback Eli Apple, safety Vonn Bell, defensive tackle David Onyemata, and linebacker A.J. Klein.

While the defense came up short in the playoffs, it’s arguably been a more consistent unit than the lauded Saints offense the last few years, especially in the postseason. But should the Saints look to maintain consistency on that side of the ball or instead pursue upgrades?

To help find out, we’ve ranked each defensive position group, taking stock of where they stand going into the offseason:

Cornerbacks

Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

The Saints have just three corners under contract right now: Marshon Lattimore, Janoris Jenkins, and Patrick Robinson. Lattimore is one of the best (if somewhat high-variance) young cover corners in the league, and the decision to pick up his fifth-year option for 2021 is a no-brainer. But it’s less clear whether the Saints should keep veterans like Jenkins and Robinson around on their bloated salaries. And the lack of depth behind them doesn’t add any clarity. This is a position the Saints must invest in, whether it means retaining mainstays like Apple and P.J. Williams or bringing in new faces.

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