A quick look at how much teams have riding on the 2023 season pic.twitter.com/IEkLYVik6F
— Jason_OTC (@Jason_OTC) June 15, 2023
The New Orleans Saints salary cap situation is one that gets talked about ad nauseam every single offseason. They’re certainly an unconventional team that on paper looks bad, but they make it work. Things could be making even more of a turn for the better, according to this graph by Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap.
New Orleans’ cap outlook is as strong as it has been in years. As of now, they have very little dead money on their books for next season. They’re still over the projected 2024 cap by $61.7 million, but the Saints can save that money and more by doing their usual restructures. There is $74.8 million in savings on the table if they restructure their contracts with Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramcyzk, Alvin Kamara, Demario Davis, Derek Carr, Taysom Hill and Erik McCoy. That would put them in the clear by $13.1 million next season without making a single cut.
There will be some dead money to deal with, for sure, but not much. Contracts are set to expire next season for some bigger names in Andrus Peat, Jameis Winston, Carl Granderson and Tre’Quan Smith, which will account for some of that dead money though it won’t have much of an effect on their overall cap health. If all of those players leave in 2024 and the salary cap hit reaches the projected figure of $260 million, their combined dead money cap hit will be about $25.3 million, counting for 9.7% of the Saints’ overall spending. That’s very manageable.
Through restructures and extensions with these players and others like Cameron Jordan and Michael Thomas, the Saints can do a lot to help out their money situation again without losing out on any major players. It’s not a simple procedure, so plenty of people will still complain, but the Saints are in a much better spot with the salary cap than they have seen in years.
