Tag: restructure

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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Packers’ most likely contract restructure options after re-working Aaron Jones’ deal

The Packers saved almost $12 million in salary cap space in 2023 by re-working Aaron Jones’ contract. Who could be next?

The Green Bay Packers freed up almost $12 million on the 2023 salary cap by re-working Aaron Jones’ contract last week. General manager Brian Gutekunst still has work to do on the cap front, so expect more restructures, regardless of whether Aaron Rodgers comes back or not.

Here are the most likely restructure options following Jones’ re-worked deal:

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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Ryan Ramczyk, Marshon Lattimore among top Saints restructure candidates

Ryan Ramczyk and Marshon Lattimore are among top Saints restructure candidates. The next players in line to help the team open up salary cap space:

The New Orleans Saints are still over the salary cap by more than $55 million after restructuring their contract with veteran safety Marcus Maye this week, so it’s clear that they have a lot of work to do a month ahead of free agency. And they will continue to lean on their restructure strategy to open up salary cap resources and keep their best players in town.

So who are the top candidates to be restructured next? Many of these contracts are designed with future moves in mind, so it’s not too difficult to scout ahead and guess at which players will rework their deals in the coming days and weeks. Here’s a quick survey, using contract data from Over The Cap:

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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How the Saints can get under the salary cap and make room for Derek Carr

How can the New Orleans Saints can get under the salary cap and afford Raiders quarterback Derek Carr? It won’t be easy, but it can be done, via @RossJacksonNOLA:

Over the recent years, the New Orleans Saints have been at the center of salary cap talk due to their sizable financial overages. The 2023 season will not be an exception. The NFL announced that the league’s salary cap would be set at $224.8 million. While the amount is an all-time high and represents a rebound to the pre-pandemic trajectory, the Saints will be right back in the thick of things trying to trim back a deficit of over $60 million as projected by Over The Cap. Believe it or not, New Orleans can get below that overage by more than enough to land a big-fish quarterback this offseason.

With veteran quarterback Derek Carr certainly on the move this offseason, his ties to Saints head coach Dennis Allen lead many to believe that he will find his way to New Orleans. Many will ask “How can the Saints afford him?”, the perennial question of any offseason in the Big Easy. The answer is simple, they keep going with their usual offseason approach. It is more than possible for them to make room for Carr (about $32.9 million), who is visiting them on Wednesday, and inherently Lamar Jackson as well if he is tagged and traded (roughly $32.4 million). Here’s an idea of how the Saints could get it done:

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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6 Saints most likely to restructure their contracts in 2023

Restructures shouldn’t be as big a part of the Saints’ salary cap strategy moving forward, but these 6 players are candidates to redo their deals and get under the cap:

The New Orleans Saints are over the most optimistic 2023 salary cap projections by tens of millions of dollars, but their approach to getting under the cap should be more typical of what we see around the league. General manager Mickey Loomis and football administration vice president Khai Harley have both expressed a desire to manage their cap commitments less aggressively than when Sean Payton was leading the organization as head coach, which makes sense.

You can’t push all of your chips in forever. You lose depth and put a ton of pressure on your rookies to contribute right away. Your margin for error is razor-thin. If a couple of signings or draft picks don’t meet expectations, and if you don’t have a Hall of Fame quarterback and/or coach to pick up the slack, well: you go 7-10 and get left on the outside looking in during the playoffs.

Now with that said: contract restructures will always be a part of how the Saints work around the cap. It’s a common tool around the league. Now, we may not see the Saints routinely restructuring deals with nine or ten players each spring, but four or five smart reworkings should be expected. And here are six possible restructure candidates to watch out for in the weeks ahead:

Saints buy a little time with Marcus Davenport, David Onyemata contract tweaks

The Saints chose to buy themselves a little time through contract tweaks with Marcus Davenport and David Onyemata:

So that’s interesting. ESPN’s Field Yates reported Tuesday that the New Orleans Saints tweaked their contracts with defensive linemen Marcus Davenport and David Onyemata, both of whom are set to become free agents when their deals void this offseason. The Saints moved those void dates back from Feb. 17 to March 14, which is the start of the new league fiscal year and the beginning of free agency.

Because both of these contracts have been restructured to move money around in past years, the Saints risk taking on dead money charges of $10.1 million for Onyemata and $7.6 million for Davenport if they are not re-signed. For context, the Saints ate dead money cap hits of $12.7 million and $11.5 million for Terron Armstead and Drew Brees in 2022, respectively.

If you’re curious, other Saints players whose contracts void this offseason include defensive lineman Tanoh Kpassagnon (leaving behind $1.9 million in dead money) and wide receiver Deonte Harty ($1.4 million).

This opens the door for one or both players to return for 2023, which makes sense. If the Saints can work out an agreeable deal with either of them it’s wise to retain them. Their only defensive tackle under contract for 2023 is Prince Emili, who joined the practice squad late in the 2022 season and never got into a game. Onyemata has taken a step back from his previous career heights but he’s still their best player on the interior.

And any contract extension with Davenport will face a lot of scrutiny. He’s struggled with injuries and inconsistent play throughout his career, and he’s coming off his worst year in the NFL after registering more ejections than sacks. That’s not to say he can’t turn it around and meet his potential, but that situation feels like one where both sides might be better off looking for a fresh start elsewhere.

So why did both players agree to move the void date back in the first place? This new timeline prevents either of them from receiving the franchise or transition tag this offseason, so they’ll have an easy path to free agency should the Saints choose to let them walk. In the meantime, this gives New Orleans time to manipulate the salary cap and move money around in other areas before making a decision on Davenport or Onyemata. It’s another subplot to watch in a very busy Saints offseason.

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