Tag: Tyrann Mathieu

Report: Saints reworking their contract with safety Tyrann Mathieu

Report: Saints reworking their contract with safety Tyrann Mathieu

This is interesting: NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reports that the New Orleans Saints are negotiating what he calls a “reworked contract” with starting safety Tyrann Mathieu. This comes after the Saints informed Mathieu’s co-starter Marcus Maye that he would be released at the start of the new league year on March 13, joining a large crowd of soon-to-be free agent safeties.

It’s no surprise that the Saints are taking a hard look at Mathieu’s contract. His $12 million salary cap hit is among the highest on the team and they still need to reach cap compliance before free agency kicks off next week. Restructuring his contract would save up to $5.8 million against the cap. An extension, if structured well, could free up to $6.2 million. A pay cut is also an option but it carries a wide range of outcomes.

What’s intriguing is Underhill’s wording — this doesn’t sound like a typical restructure where the Saints would convert most of Mathieu’s $7 million base salary into a signing bonus and pay it out in installments. Oftentimes a reworked deal means either a pay cut, conversion of salary into incentives, or an extension.

And keep in mind that we’re speculating here, but that last point might be the  key. Mathieu is entering the final year of his contract. Most of the money the Saints would save now by restructuring him would hit the books next season if he isn’t re-signed. If the plan is to retain him anyway, simply signing him to an extension now and moving money around — effectively reworking the deal — would make the most sense for both sides.

Mathieu played well in 2023. His 4 interceptions were tied with cornerback Paulson Adebo for the team lead. He tied slot corner Alontae Taylor with 75 combined tackles (fifth-most), 50 of them solo (also fifth). He’ll turn 32 in May and working out a new deal to insure he’ll finish his career playing for his hometown team would be a fantastic story.

But this could just as easily be a pay cut. Hopefully that’s not the case, though Underhill adds that Mathieu is working with the Saints to push negotiations across the finish line. He’s been a good pickup and it would be great to see him close out the final chapter of his playing career in front of a friendly crowd. Stay tuned.

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6 options for the Saints to replace Marcus Maye at safety

The Saints will be replacing Marcus Maye at safety, but who are their choices? Between in-house options, draft prospects, and free agents, here are six candidates:

Here’s another challenge for the New Orleans Saints offense: replacing Marcus Maye at safety. It’s been reported that the Saints will release Maye at the start of the new league year on March 13, buying them time to make decisions on other players before filing his release with the league office.

Even if Maye’s availability was a concern (he missed a full 17-game season’s worth of time with injuries and a suspension through two years), the Saints still need to account for his loss in the secondary. Between in-house options, draft prospects, and free agents, here are six candidates to watch:

New Orleans Saints to release starting safety Marcus Maye

The New Orleans Saints intend to release starting safety Marcus Maye at the start of the league year, per Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz:

The New Orleans Saints plan to release starting safety Marcus Maye when the new league year kicks off on March 13, per Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz. Maye had missed as many games (17) as he played for New Orleans (17) due to several injuries and a suspension over his two years with the team.

So it’s not too surprising that he’s being let go. Maye was due to count $9.6 million against the salary cap in 2024, the last year of his contract, and the Saints decided it’s worth more to replace him than keep it going. What’s curious is how they’re doing it.

If the Saints are simply cutting Maye loose they’ll have to pay more than $8.4 million against the cap in dead money, meaning they’re saving just $1.1 million by parting ways. But if they’re using one of their two post-June 1 cut designations on Maye, it means they’ll save the $1.1 million now and get another $6 million in savings over the summer to use to sign their rookie draft class and maybe some free agents for training camp. They’ll spread out the dead money with cap hits of $2.4 million in 2024 and $6 million in 2025, but again, the big savings won’t hit until June 2.

Which complicates things. Remember, teams are only allowed to use two of these designations. If the Saints are burning one of them on Maye then it means they can’t use it on one of the other two players who are seen as candidates for the post-June 1 release: Jameis Winston and Michael Thomas. Both players have firm deadlines to be released or extended so this isn’t a move the Saints are taking lightly. It means they’ve already decided which of them will be staying and who will be going.

Winston currently has a salary cap hit of $4.5 million but it’ll grow by about $100 million if he’s still on the roster by March 16, which means the Saints must tear up his contract and sign a new one or let him leave in free agency. Thomas is in a similar position with a $12.4 million cap hit. Releasing either of them with the post-June 1 designation would only save about $1.2 million, so this is all more procedural than actually helpful for the salary cap.

So stay tuned for clarity on Maye’s release and its impact on the Saints’ cap situation. What’s certain is that they must make their outgoing free agents at safety (guys like Johnathan Abram, Lonnie Johnson, and Ugo Amadi) priorities to re-sign. They should also consider additions in the draft or free agency to compete with Jordan Howden for the starting job next to Tyrann Mathieu — who, it should be noted, has played well in New Orleans and could sign an extension to finish his career in his hometown.

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Next steps for the Saints after NFL sends 2024 salary cap to the moon

The NFL’s heightened 2024 salary cap brings a big boost for the Saints. They’re a couple of moves away from reaching cap compliance:

The NFL’s heightened 2024 salary cap brings a big boost for the New Orleans Saints. With the cap taking an unprecedented $30 million jump this offseason, the Saints are just a couple of moves away from reaching cap compliance — and then some. They’ll be able to clear enough room to make some noise in free agency and enter the bidding for talented veterans.

With the NFL announcing that this year’s salary cap is set at a record $255.4 million, the experts at Over The Cap estimate the Saints to be in the red by a little over $40 million. That’s less than half of the $83 million hole New Orleans sat in entering the offseason. But there’s more work to be done. Here’s how the Saints can clear their remaining negative cap space and open up more resources to take into free agency:

Ranking the Saints’ most important team needs for 2024

Musts, needs, and wants: Highlighting the New Orleans Saints’ areas of concern for 2024 with targets for free agency and the NFL draft

It’s no secret that the New Orleans Saints are a flawed team: their three-year playoffs drought is proof of it. So changes are obviously going to be needed this offseason. But where to begin? Who could cure what ails them?

Some disgruntled fans are calling for an overhaul of team leadership with a new head coach, general manager, and quarterback, but none of those things are going to happen this offseason. We need to keep expectations realistic.

Here are some positions of need the Saints should prioritize in the spring, along with realistic free agent targets and possible draft prospects who might be available when New Orleans is on the clock.

Saints’ NFL-worst salary cap situation isn’t as bad as it looks

The Saints have the worst salary cap situation in the league — on paper. But this year’s challenges aren’t as daunting as they’ve overcome before:

It’s another year with Mickey Loomis running the New Orleans Saints, which means it’s another offseason with 31 teams having more salary cap space to work with — on paper. The experts at Over The Cap estimate that the Saints are in the red by $83.6 million, assuming the cap rises to $242 million. That’s based off the $20 million leap it made last year.

And yeah, that’s a challenging situation to work with. But it’s not as daunting as some of the hurdles we’ve seen the Saints overcome before. There just aren’t many outgoing free agents that New Orleans will have to bid against other teams for; left tackle Andrus Peat, wide receiver Michael Thomas and quarterback Jameis Winston are the highest priorities to re-sign and none of them are ranked as top-100 free agents at Pro Football Focus.

So how will the Saints chip away at that $83.6 million and get under the cap? Expect them to start with their usual strategies of restructuring high base salaries into signing bonuses for key players like linebacker Demario Davis (saving about $8.1 million), defensive end Carl Granderson (yielding $7.2 million) and safety Tyrann Mathieu ($5.8 million in savings). The big domino is quarterback Derek Carr. His contract is set up for a restructure that would save more than $23 million against the cap, but it would basically guarantee a third year with him under center. If the Saints are confident he can carry his strong finish to the 2023 season over into 2024, they shouldn’t hesitate to pull that lever.

Those four moves get the Saints halfway to the finish line by themselves. There are other restructures in the cards but tougher negotiations on pay cuts with underperforming veterans have to be considered, too; it’s tough to justify high salaries for players who have missed a lot of time with injuries or suspensions, or who just haven’t met expectations. Hopefully things can work out differently so guys can help the team without losing money.

Our point here is that the Saints can reach cap compliance and then make room without losing many key free agents or cutting foundational players. They won’t have to kick off a fire sale (or, more accurately, they can’t, because of unique contract structures) to go the distance. They’ll get under the cap and add players in free agency.

The concern is whether all that hard work is worth it for a Dennis Allen-led team that hasn’t gotten to the playoffs with some of the easiest schedules in the league the last two years. Going all-in like this is smart when the team is competitive and winning playoff games. If the Saints can’t reach the postseason, what’s the point in all these cap gymnastics?

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Studs and Duds from Saints’ 48-17 drudging of Falcons

The New Orleans Saints took on the Atlanta Falcons in the last week of the season. Though the game itself wasn’t much of a fights, with the Saints taking a 48-17 victory, there was a lot to talk about afterwards. But who were the standouts? Who made …

The New Orleans Saints took on the Atlanta Falcons in the last week of the season. Though the game itself wasn’t much of a fights, with the Saints taking a 48-17 victory, there was a lot to talk about afterwards.

But who were the standouts? Who made a difference on Sunday afternoon — for good or bad? Who stood out for positive and negative reasons? Let’s break down this week’s Studs and Duds:

WATCH: Tyrann Mathieu nearly returns an INT for a TD

WATCH: Tyrann Mathieu nearly returns an INT for a TD

The New Orleans Saints blew out the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday afternoon by a score of 48-17. The last score was a controversial touchdown scored with just outside of a minute left in the game. That touchdown was set up by an interception by Tyrann Mathieu that he then returned for 74 yards before getting tackled at the one yard line.

The interception was the second of the day for the defense and first of the day thrown by Falcons backup Logan Woodside. Mathieu was able to nab his fourth interception of the season and his seventh as a Saint.

After the play, the Saints ran into the end zone with Jamaal Williams who scored his first touchdown of the season. Arthur Smith took exception to this and gave Allen a mouthful at mid-field.

Falcons head coach Arthur Smith unamused by Saints running up the score

Falcons head coach Arthur Smith unamused by the Saints running up the score, confronts Dennis Allen at midfield:

Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith didn’t exactly shake hands with  his New Orleans Saints counterpart Dennis Allen after coming up short in Sunday’s 48-17 loss, storming up to the Saints head coach at midfield. Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu returned an interception 74 yards to set up a Jamaal Williams touchdown run in the game’s final minutes when New Orleans was already leading by 24 points.

“What was that?” Smith snapped. The pair exchanged words as a hot mic picked up Smith’s complaints. “That was (expletive)ing bull(expletive).”

Allen responded with “I understand that” before they parted ways, though Smith continued to look over his shoulders and stare daggers at his counterpart.

Sure, Allen choosing to run up the score when the game was no longer in doubt is a little classless. It could be seen as improper or an affront to good sportsmanship. Smith certainly took offense to it. But you’re supposed to compete and if Smith didn’t want the Saints to score his defense should have gotten a stop. And when you’re playing a heated rivalry game like this, everything is on the table.

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Why was Johnathan Abram, not Jordan Howden, starting at safety for Saints?

Why was Johnathan Abram, not Jordan Howden, starting at safety for the Saints? The coaches had a good reason, and Abram made the most of his opportunity:

Jordan Howden has been a regular face in the New Orleans Saints secondary, so it was a little jarring to see him not in the starting lineup next to Tyrann Mathieu on Sunday. But the Saints coaching staff had a good reason for making a change: Howden was sidelined in practice to start the week with an illness that was still limiting him.

That prompted them to call up Johnathan Abram, who took Howden’s place as Marcus Maye’s fill-in. And Abram certainly made the most of that opportunity. He tied with Mathieu for the second-most tackles in Sunday’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers while also forcing a fumble, intercepting a pass, and breaking up another throw into his coverage.

Saints head coach Dennis Allen complimented Abram’s performance after the game, saying: “I thought he played really well, I was extremely proud of him. Happy for him, the way that he played. Great effort play on the strip to cause a fumble that Demario (Davis) recovered. There was a number of things he did well, but that stands out.”

Allen pointed to Abram as a veteran in the defensive backs room who has spent more time studying game tape than maybe anyone else on the roster; Abram started out on the practice squad to start the year before getting chances to dress out for games here or there prior to this start. Props to him for seizing his opportunity.

Maybe it’ll lead to a larger role for him with free agency on the horizon. A former Raiders first-round draft pick out of Mississippi State, Abram suited up for a couple of different teams last year before he reunited with Derek Carr in New Orleans. He quickly established himself as a valuable player on the depth chart, and the Saints are fortunate to have him. We’ll see if he can continue to make a positive difference in Week 18’s regular season finale.

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