Tag: khai harley

Saints salary cap expert Khai Harley to attend NFL General Manager Accelerator event

Saints salary cap expert Khai Harley is one of many candidates attending this year’s NFL Front Office and General Manager Accelerator event:

Khai Harley is the New Orleans Saints’ secret weapon. His official job title is listed as the assistant general manager and vice president of football administration, but Harley’s main role in the front office is navigating the salary cap. No one knows the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement better, and he works around the clock each year to find loopholes and clauses to exploit so the Saints can get the most bang for their buck.

And it’s put him on other teams’ radars. Harley is on track to run his own team someday, and his participation in key summits like the annual NFL Front Office and General Manager Accelerator event at league meetings in December will only help raise his profile around the NFL.

Harley was announced as one of dozens of candidates from many teams around the league who have been selected for this year’s Accelerator, which will give him opportunities to network with team owners and other executives before the next hiring cycle. The event also features seminars, mock interviews, and professional development workshops to help prepare future general managers.

Could Harley be the next man up in New Orleans? He shares the assistant general manager title with Jeff Ireland (who is also the team’s vice president of college personnel), a former general manager himself. Mickey Loomis runs the show and is the longest-tenured GM around the league, but it’s possible he could step up into an executive role in the years ahead. The Saints would be wise to hold onto Harley, but if Loomis isn’t ready to give up his seat he may go elsewhere in search of the right opportunity.

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Mickey Loomis reflects on his toughest New Orleans Saints roster cuts

Mickey Loomis reflected on his toughest Saints roster cuts, saying there isn’t one specific player that was the hardest to part with so much as a recurring archetype:

The annual NFL roster cuts deadline is coming up on Tuesday, and it’s an unpleasant process for all involved; not just the players losing their jobs, but team personnel like New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, who has to be the bearer of bad news to dozens of young men.

Loomis recently appeared on Chris Long’s Green Light Podcast and fielded a number of questions, but the most difficult to answer concerned these roster cuts. Long asked Loomis which release had been the toughest in his Saints tenure, to which the league’s most-experienced GM responded carefully. From his point of view, there isn’t one specific player that was the hardest to part with so much as an archetype he’s run into more often than he’d like.

“Yeah, oof, boy. Good question,” Loomis exhaled, gathering his thoughts. “There’s a lot of them. And the toughest cuts are always the veteran player who’s been with you if not his whole career, a long time. You just — it’s tough emotionally to let someone go who’s contributed so much to your team, your community, the building.

“These guys, they’re great people. I think NFL players, they’re high achievers, they’re intelligent, they’re just great people with very few exceptions. And so they become part of your family. They’re appreciated by the secretaries, by every person in your building. So when you finally have to say, hey, you’re probably not good enough anymore, it’s time to go? That, that’s hard. That’s really hard.”

Loomis pointed out that these splits sometimes lead to discontent in the fanbase — as was the case with Jimmy Graham, who the Saints traded away years ago. He says he’s heard about it from fans everywhere, including his daughter, who continued to support Graham and wore his Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers, and Chicago Bears jerseys as his NFL career continued away from New Orleans.

So while getting Graham back in black and gold was something that’s sparked a lot of positivity inside and outside the team facility, Loomis acknowledged how rare these reunions can be: “But those kinds of things are tough. Whether it’s a trade or letting someone go, it’s like losing a piece of your family sometimes.”

Moving on from franchise fixtures like Graham is something Loomis knows all too well. He’s had to break the bad news to fan-favorites like former Saints punter Thomas Morstead (190 games played for New Orleans), All-Pro guard Jahri Evans (169 games), franchise receiving leader Marques Colston (146 games), and a host of Super Bowl heroes like the late Will Smith, Jonathan Vilma, Roman Harper, Jabari Greer, Pierre Thomas, and Lance Moore, among many others.

It’s not an appealing part of the job. And it’s something Loomis and his staff — including recently-promoted assistant general manager Khai Harley will have to fulfill again in the days ahead. For all the personal connections and familial ties that football creates, it’s a stark reminder that, at the end of the day, it’s still a business.

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Saints announce staff changes, promote Khai Harley to assistant GM

New Orleans Saints announce staff changes for 2023 season, promote salary cap specialist Khai Harley to assistant general manager:

This is cool: the New Orleans Saints announced a couple of staff changes and additions on Tuesday, with the most notable news being a promotion for Khai Harley. The salary cap specialist still retains his title as vice president of football operations — but he’s now pulling double-duty as their assistant general manager.

Mickey Loomis is still on top of the organizational chart as general manager and executive vice president, but Harley now shares a title with Jeff Ireland as assistant GM to Loomis. Ireland’s main focus remains on the college scouting department, but now both he and Harley carry the assistant GM title.

Loomis is the longest-tenured general manager in the league. He’ll turn 67 this year. He won’t be around forever, and it’s very possible that the Saints are setting up someone like Harley to succeed him in a couple of years. Ireland also has experience at the top of the organization from his six-year run with the Miami Dolphins. Either way, this promotion is a well-deserved recognition for a key member of the front office. Harley has done a great job navigating the salary cap and the CBA to keep the Saints competitive year in and year out.

What about the other moves? For the most part, the Saints confirmed additions who were previously reported during the summer like defensive assistant coach Matt Giordano, analytics director Zach Stuart, and football administration director Scott Kuhn. They also shuffled the scouting department with Matt Phillips becoming an area scout and Will Martinez taking over as NFL combine scout.

But a couple of other new hires stand out. Former Louisiana Tech assistant to the head coach and NFL liaison Ziad Qubti is joining the team as their new college scouting coordinator under Ireland, with Rishi Desai (former Ole Miss director of scouting and an LSU graduate) also joining the scouting department. It’s good to see minority candidates getting these opportunities, especially with the NFL awarding compensatory draft picks when they’re hired to executive positions. If they help the organization find good players and develop into sought-after GM candidates in their own right, them leaving someday would bring back valuable draft assets to New Orleans. It’s a win-win.

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Saints add another member to Khai Harley’s front office department

The Saints added another member to Khai Harley’s department in the front office: former Vikings analytics director Scott Kuhn

Check the New Orleans Saints’ list of front office personnel and you’ll see just two people working in the department of football administration: vice president Khai Harley and director Scott Kuhn. Harley’s former assistant Tosan Eyetsemitan moved to the pro scouting department this offseason, opening a role for Kuhn. So who is he?

Kuhn was hired as a pro scout with the Minnesota Vikings back in 2007, where he worked under former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman. Last season he was promoted to Minnesota’s director of football quantitative methods while continuing to work in the pro scouting department, where his work took a more analytical focus. The Vikings didn’t retain him after the 2022 season while new GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah restructures his front office.

Harley is known as New Orleans’ in-house salary cap expert, working to navigate the cap and maximize the team’s spending resources each year. But he won’t be around forever. It’s only a matter of time before other teams come sniffing around and seek to poach him for a general manager job of his own (ex-Saints executive Terry Fontenot tried to bring him to the Atlanta Falcons) and it’s worth investing in qualified candidates to replace Harley, if need be. Bringing in guys like Eyetsemitan and Kuhn could pay off in a big way.

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Updating the New Orleans Saints’ current salary cap situation

Updating the New Orleans Saints’ current salary cap situation before training camp: What should Mickey Loomis and Khai Harley do with $13 million?

We’ve made it: New Orleans Saints rookies reported for training camp this week, and their veteran teammates will join them next week before practice kicks off for the entire team.

The Saints have made plenty of additions this offseason already, but they might not be finished just yet. New Orleans has access to more unspent salary cap space than is typical for them this of the year, even after second-round draft pick Isaiah Foskey signed his rookie deal on Tuesday. What should general manager Mickey Loomis and his right-hand man Khai Harley, the team’s vice president of football administration, do with those resources?

Let’s break it down:

Derek Carr impressed by New Orleans Saints’ crafty salary cap accounting

Derek Carr impressed by the Saints’ crafty salary cap accounting, says of cap guru Khai Harley: ‘That man’s wheeling and dealing’ in free agency

There’s been a bit of an adjustment period for Derek Carr after he signed with the New Orleans Saints. Not just in moving his family from the communities they’ve lived grown up in, over in Southern California and Nevada to New Orleans, but in seeing how differently one NFL organization can be run compared to another. After spending most of a decade with the cash-strapped Raiders, he’s been blown away by how big of spenders the Saints have been in free agency.

Carr made a guest appearance on his nephew Austin’s Harvester Sports Podcast, where he noted how impressed he was by the team’s crafty salary cap accounting. Football administration vice president Khai Harley continued to prove his worth in a surprisingly-busy free agency experience for New Orleans. While catching up on the latest news, Carr was thrilled to see the league’s touchdown runs leader Jamaal Williams arrive to share the backfield with him and Alvin Kamara.

“You see the guy who had all the touchdowns, and first of all, where’d we get all the money? Where’d we get this money?” Carr laughed. “My man Khai in New Orleans, that man’s wheeling and dealing. It’s funny. We signed him and I’m like, dude, this is awesome.”

It’s a big difference from what Carr experienced on the Raiders, whose owner Mark Davis is notoriously cash-poor; his team’s shoddy financials was at least a partial factor in the decision to trade superstar pass rusher Khalil Mack back in 2018 rather than sign him to a lucrative extension. Despite also hailing from a small market, the Saints always seek to max out their resources and field the most competitive team possible.

Carr pointed to some of the other names the Saints brought in during free agency — a pair of new starting defensive tackles, and quality depth in the secondary, plus his former teammate Bryan Edwards at wide receiver. One free agent pickup Carr singled out was defensive back Lonnie Johnson Jr., who he’s eager to compete against in practice over the summer.

“This guy’s a baller, I’ve always loved him,” Carr gushed, “He’s so talented. And then we sign him, and I’m like, I was right! They think so too.”

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Saints VP Khai Harley shares his perspective on the salary cap, and future ambitions

Saints VP of football administration Khai Harley shared his perspective on the salary cap and future ambitions in an interview with FOX 8’s Sean Fazende:

There might not be someone who has been a bigger part of the New Orleans Saints’ success over the last decade while getting less than his share of the credit than Khai Harley. Officially titled the team’s vice president of football administration, Harley’s day-to-day responsibilities focus on navigating salary cap hurdles to ensure the Saints are fielding as competitive a team possible. He spoke about his role on the team and his future ambitions in an extended sit-down interview with FOX 8’s Sean Fazende.

“The main crux of my job is managing the cap, is negotiating player contracts. It’s also somewhat like being a compliance offer, there’s a rule for practically everything we do,” Harley said.

There’s a common belief that the salary cap is a myth, but Harley’s stance on it is more nuanced — he sees it as a challenge to overcome and a tool to be used, rather than a blockade or excuse to keep the Saints from achieving their goals.

He continued, clarifying his perspective on the cap: “Everyone looks at the salary cap in sort of this illusionary sort of way, and yet I look at it as more of an accounting mechanism. So my accounting background with these gap principles that you use in accounting, and you have the CBA that guides salary cap construction, or contract construction.”

It’s an interesting stance, and it isn’t for everyone. The Saints routinely lead the league in dead money paid out in contracts for players who aren’t on their roster anymore, often leading the NFL in restructured contracts to move money around and fit everyone under cap. General manager Mickey Loomis has spoken about an eagerness to get back to more conventional spending habits and stop kicking the can so far down the road. But if an opportunity to improve presents itself, it’s up to Harley to weigh the pros and cons in making a move.

“Can we make it work? So, that’s the difference between probabilities and possibilities,” Harley mused. “It’s possible we can make it work. Should we, that’s a different story, that’s a different question. All things that we discuss internally when we paint the picture of ‘Here’s where we’re at, here’s what we can fit in.’ If everybody likes this particular player, and we want to get this particular player, okay, ‘Here’s how we can make it work, and here’s the consequence of that.'”

But Harley doesn’t want to stay in this gig forever. He left a career in finance administration in hopes of leading his own team someday, and he sees a general manager post of his own in his future. He’s participated in league events highlighting potential GM candidates and seen coworkers like Ryan Pace and Terry Fontenot get hired away to head up the front office in other cities. It’s only a matter of time until another team takes a serious interest in the man who’s kept the Saints’ books clean.

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Saints have a heavy presence scouting the HBCU Legacy Bowl and Combine

The New Orleans Saints have a heavy presence scouting the HBCU Legacy Bowl and Combine this week at their own indoor practice facility:

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the New Orleans Saints are well-represented at the HBCU Legacy Bowl and Combine this week — the college all-star game’s events and practices are being held at their indoor practice facility in Metairie.

Still, it’s good to see a heavy Saints presence in attendance: college and pro personnel executives Jeff Ireland and Michael Parenton were seen at practice this week, as well as football administration vice president Khai Harley. All three of them are involved in crafting the team’s offseason strategy and draft board, and their input is valuable.

This year’s HBCU Legacy Bowl will be held at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 25. Saints quarterback Jameis Winston has been selected as one of the game’s honorary captains, as was Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead, who won accolades in New Orleans after playing collegiately for the HBCU Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The game will be broadcast nationally on NFL Network. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT.

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NFL sets 2023 salary cap at record-high $224.8M, which is great for the Saints

The NFL has set its 2023 salary cap at a record-high $224.8 million, which is great news for the New Orleans Saints — who are over the cap by more than $57 million:

Good news, everyone: the NFL told teams Monday that it has set the 2023 salary cap per team at $224.8 million, which is great for the New Orleans Saints. New Orleans currently has a staggering $281.9 million in cap commitments for the 2023 season, which means they must clear more than $57.1 million to reach cap compliance before the start of the new league year on March 14. No team is over the cap by a wider margin than the Saints.

That’s easier said than done, but we’ve seen New Orleans work around the cap well before, and they’ll get there again. It’s going to be another busy offseason for their salary cap specialist Khai Harley and general manager Mickey Loomis as they navigate contract situations with many players and we should anticipate restructures, releases, and a couple of creative extensions to reach the finish line.

Some obvious moves that jump out at you from their accounting sheet: restructures with cornerstone players like Marshon Lattimore (saving over $10 million), Ryan Ramczyk ($9.6 million), and Erik McCoy ($8 million) will be easy enough and cut into that negative cap figure. Parting ways with Jameis Winston and Wil Lutz brings $8.1 million in savings. Releasing Michael Thomas and Andrus Peat with post-June 1 designations frees up another $12.9 million later in the summer, but that’s well after free agency’s busiest signing period and the 2023 draft, so it isn’t quite as helpful.

Still, those moves leave the Saints in the red by about $21.4 million before the March deadline. They clearly have more work to do than we’ve mused on here. So watch this space in the weeks ahead as roster moves and salary cap maneuvers trickle in.

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The 10 most important Saints players, coaches, and front office execs of 2023

If the Saints want to improve in 2023, these names need to have major impacts. The 10 most important Saints of 2023, via @RossJacksonNOLA:

Every offseason comes with changes and commitments across the NFL. The New Orleans Saints have committed to their coaching staff for the time being and while that likely means changes are on the way at key positions across the roster, the Saints will see some familiar faces return in 2023. Those returning players, coaches and front office staff members will be pivotal to the team’s success in 2023.

The Saints are hoping to improve on their recent and disappointing 7-10 finish. But finishing with a better record won’t be enough. This organization wants to be back in the playoffs and winning postseason matchups. In order to get that done, big names are going to have to make big impacts. Here are the 10 most important Saints of 2023: