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.
