It’s a shame Ryan Ramczyk’s career ended this way. The New Orleans Saints’ former All-Pro right tackle effectively signed his retirement papers this week, having missed the entire 2024 season with a chronic knee injury. This was expected even if it’s unpleasant at best.
Per Over The Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald, Ramczyk agreed to waive his $18 million base salary for 2025 while reducing it to the league minimum, which saved the Saints a little more than $16.7 million against the salary cap. He’ll remain on the roster until June 2 with a cap hit of $12.3 million (instead of $29 million before this move), at which point they’ll formally release him and process his retirement.
That timing is all about cap purposes; we’ve seen the team use this same approach before for retiring players like Malcolm Jenkins and Drew Brees. When Ramczyk’s release and retirement are officially processed in June, the Saints will get that $1.2 million base salary back as a cap credit with about $11 million left behind in dead money for 2025 and $11.9 million in 2026. Then he’s off the books for good in 2027.
Still, it’s a disappointing end for Ramczyk’s career. He won recognition as an All-Pro three times, with two spots on the second team (2018 and 2020) and a place on the first team in 2019. He’s done really well for himself after going from welding school to playing for his old high school coach at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, which put him on the recruiting radar. He transferred to join the Wisconsin Badgers, started a full season for them at left tackle and then was drafted by the Saints in 2017’s first round. He switched to the right side without much prep time and went on to enjoy an impressive seven-year career.
If his knee had held up, Ramczyk would still be starting for the Saints today. But they tried everything to improve it without success, and the best thing for his health is to shed his playing weight and move on. We’ll wish him the best in retirement.
