Tag: David Onyemata

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.

NFC South roundtable: Who were the division’s biggest free-agent losses?

Which free-agent losses will hurt most within the NFC South this upcoming season? Here are our picks for each team’s biggest departure.

Which free-agent losses will be felt most throughout the NFC South in 2023?

Our managing editors name one former player from each team that may be missed during the upcoming campaign.

NFC South roundtable: Breaking down the biggest free agent losses for every team

NFC South roundtable: Breaking down the biggest free agent losses for each team during the 2023 offseason including Saints DT David Onyemata

The 2023 offseason hasn’t just been all about new additions — quite a bit of talent has left the NFC South this spring, so we polled the managing editors at Falcons Wire (Matt Urben), Panthers Wire (Anthony Rizzuti), and Bucs Wire (River Wells) for their choice of each team’s biggest departure.

Here’s how the New Orleans Saints’ losses stack up among their peers and rivals after a lot of talented veterans hit the road this offseason (with many of them staying in the division, annoyingly):

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 Xs and Os: Atlanta Falcons have started a much-needed defensive overhaul

The Atlanta Falcons have started a desperately-needed defensive rebuild. Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar get into the specifics in this week’s “Xs and Os.”

With new defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen, who had been the New Orleans Saints’ defensive line coach,  I’d say to expect a lot more varied fronts and man coverage from the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons played man last season 22% of their snaps, which ranked 27th in the NFL. The 2022 Saints played man coverage on 40% of their snaps, which ranked second. New Orleans especially played a lot of 2-man – the most in the league.

Now, we don’t automatically assume that Nielsen will bring everything over from New Orleans, but when you look at their new personnel, they’re telling you what they want to do. They traded for Jeff Okudah, who is a dead-red press cornerback. Okudah had 43 coverage snaps in 2-Man last season. They got Mike Hughes, who was also with the Lions last season, and he’s played that stuff, as well. A.J. Terrell had kind of a down season in 2022, but he’s great when he’s on, and he is very comfortable in man coverage. 

Adding former Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates III certainly allows them to play more two-high stuff. Last season, the Falcons were in two-high 44% of the time, which ranked 24th. The Saints were in two-high 54% of the time, which ranked 15th.

Then, you add the guys to a front seven that didn’t do much of anything to disrupt the quarterback last season – they had the NFL’s second-fewest sacks with 21, and the NFL’s second-fewest pressures with 88. David Onyemata. Calais Campbell. Bud Dupree. Kaden Elliss. The Saints ran a ton of different fronts last season, and you’d expect a lot more varied fronts than we saw last season. Not that there will be a ton of blitz – the Falcons did it 19% of the time last season, and the Saints did it 15% of the time – but it’s more about throwing things at the quarterback pre-snap that the quarterback might not be ready for.

On this week’s edition of “The Xs and Os,” Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup discussed why Nielsen should bring as many things from New Orleans as he possibly can:

“One of the things I’ve done over the years is, when I talk to offensive coaches who game-plan, I always ask them, who are the toughest coaches and coordinators to play against? And Dennis Allen’s name always comes up. So there’s no question that Ryan Nielsen, who’s a younger coach… this is his background right now. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have his own ideas, but this is his background right now. So, you would expect to see a lot of those same principles.

“Now, Dean Pees was there, and Dean Pees is a guy who’s very multiple in how he approached pressures and coverages. So, it’s not as if they didn’t do a lot of different things, but you mentioned 2-Man, and I’ll be very curious to see if they’ll do that [in Atlanta]. Obviously to do that, you have to have a pass rush. Because if you’re going to play 2-Man coverage, that’s seven people in coverage. The five man-to-man defenders, and the two deep safeties. You need to be able to impact the quarterback with four defenders, and doing that within three seconds.”

You can watch Doug and Greg discussing that defensive overhaul right here:

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16 ex-Saints players to face their former team in 2023

Having found new homes around the NFL, these 16 ex-New Orleans Saints players could face their former team in 2023:

Having found new homes around the NFL, these 16 ex-New Orleans Saints players could face their former team in 2023. Some of them were household names. Others were only in town long enough to pour a cup of coffee or cash in their signing bonus from an undrafted rookie contract. But at some point they all wore black and gold, and we might see them again in the fall:

Twitter reacts to Isaiah Foskey being drafted by New Orleans Saints

See what social media is saying about the former Irish defensive lineman going to the Big Easy.

[autotag]Isaiah Foskey[/autotag] was a consensus All-American defensive lineman during his final season at Notre Dame. If there weren’t only 31 spots in the first round of the NFL draft, people might have said he was robbed of being taken in that round. Still, the second round practically was a sure thing, which is not a bad consolation prize. Sure enough, Foskey was drafted by the New Orleans Saints with the 40th overall pick.

Foskey joins a Saints defensive line that includes veteran defensive end Cameron Jordan. The Saints clearly are looking to get younger on that unit as their first-round pick was Clemson defensive tackle Bryan Bresee. They also are trying to make up for the loss of David Onyemata, who departed via free agency.

As is the case with any NFL draftee, Twitter was abuzz upon Foskey’s selection. Take a look at some of the most notable reactions on the social media site:

Every New Orleans Saints fourth-round pick since 2002

Looking back on every New Orleans Saints fourth-round pick since 2002, from Jahri Evans and Jermon Bushrod to Khairi Fortt, Rick Leonard, and Ian Book:

We’re continuing our survey of the New Orleans Saints draft history with a look back at the many players the team has picked in the fourth round since Mickey Loomis was named general manager back in 2002 — a group that includes Pro Bowl talents like Jahri Evans and Jermon Bushrod, as well as some big misses like Ian Book, Rick Leonard, and Khairi Fortt. But the Saints have found many quality players in this range. Let’s run through the list.

You can also find the Loomis-era Saints draft picks in our previous entries from this series:

Saints receive a favorable offseason grade ahead of 2023 NFL draft

Nailing the 2023 NFL draft could put a pin on what’s been a successful Saints offseason. Bleacher Report graded their efforts this spring with a B-plus:

The 2023 NFL draft is just around the corner, so it’s a good time to pause and take stock of the various teams around the NFC South. And one useful tool in gauging the New Orleans Saints’ progress and that of their rivals is offseason grades.

While these are often subjective, they are a good reference point in catching up on all of the departures and new arrivals for various teams around the league. A strong rookie draft class can put a pin in what’s been a successful Saints offseason. The latest take on their performance in the spring comes from Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox, who graded New Orleans with a B-plus:

If the signing of quarterback Derek Carr helps put the New Orleans Saints back in the playoff mix this season, fans will marvel at the financial wizardry general manager Micky Loomis pulled off this offseason.

The Saints entered the offseason facing a $52.9 million cap deficit. Somehow, they found a way to sign Carr to a four-year, $150 million deal, which isn’t proverbial pennies but is a fair price for a four-time Pro Bowler.

While New Orleans did have to part with standout players like Marcus Davenport, David Onyemata, Justin Evans and Kaden Elliss, they managed to keep guys like tight end Juwan Johnson, defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon, backup quarterback Jameis Winston and work out a contract restructure with wideout Michael Thomas.

The Saints also brought in some solid reinforcements in Khalen Saunders, Nathan Shepherd and Jamaal Williams.

In New Orleans, Carr will reunite with head coach Dennis Allen, who was the Raiders’ head coach when Carr was drafted back in 2014. If Carr can boost the offense and New Orleans’ defense can replicate its 2022 success (ranked fifth overall), the Saints can improve significantly on their 7-10 record from last season.

But how does that stack up against the other NFC South teams? The Saints are facing some competition from their rivals on the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers, and the neighboring Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the mix, too. Here’s how the offseason grades (so far) shook out at Bleacher Report:

  1. Atlanta Falcons: A
  2. Carolina Panthers: A-
  3. New Orleans Saints: B+
  4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: C

We’ll circle back and see what the experts, analysts, and prognosticators think about each NFC South team after the 2023 draft is in the books. With the Panthers picking first overall and the Falcons joining them inside the top 10, and the Buccaneers also in good position, odds are each team will make more inroads than New Orleans in the first round. But the Saints have a strong scouting department, and it’s anyone’s guess as to how they all stack up this time next month.

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Atlanta Falcons try out another New Orleans Saints free agent

The Atlanta Falcons brought in yet another New Orleans Saints free agent for a tryout: backup offensive tackle Ethan Greenidge

Can’t the Atlanta Falcons do their own scouting? The New Orleans Saints’ biggest rivals have signed a number of Saints free agents this offseason already, and they brought in another former Saints player.

Per the daily NFL transactions wire, Atlanta hosted offensive tackle Ethan Greenidge for a tryout on Wednesday. Greenidge spent the 2022 season on injured reserve, but before that he was a backup left tackle in New Orleans. He appeared in 17 games from 2019 to 2021, including the playoffs, though he played more snaps on special teams (83) than on offense (49). He first arrived in New Orleans as an undrafted free agent out of Villanova.

The Falcons offensive line needs all the help it can get in slowing down Cameron Jordan, so Greenidge could make sense for them as more depth behind Jake Matthews and Kaleb McGary. Atlanta general manager Terry Fontenot was a personnel executive for the Saints before taking that promotion, so it makes sense that he’s prioritizing players he thought of highly like Greenidge, Kaden Elliss, and David Onyemata in free agency.

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