USAT: Saints Wire audio clip

USAT: Saints Wire

Feb 28, 2022

No team has embraced contract restructures more than the New Orleans Saints, who have paired the practice with a strategy of automatically-voided years written into deals for accounting purposes that have helped them navigate the salary cap time and again. It’s taken a lot of cap gymnastics, but it’s an approach that has worked for them — only the Kansas City Chiefs have won more games (going 60-21) than the Saints since 2017 (who went 58-23 in that span). - There are downsides to continued restructures, though. If things sour between a player and the team and it’s time for a split, that departure could leave a lot of money on the books tied up in dead money that’s paying for a player who isn’t on the roster. The team risks tying up too many resources in players who inevitably age, get injured, and see their production tail off. So you’ve really got to evaluate them on a case by case basis, which is what we’re doing here. - The Saints have already restructured their contracts with wide receiver Michael Thomas, offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk, as well as left guard Andrus Peat. Remember, these restructures are not pay cuts; instead of receiving big game checks during the season, players get one lump payout as a signing bonus in the spring, while the team gets to defer the cap accounting to future years. There is some risk involved from the team’s perspective, but the Saints aren’t about to slow down with $42.2 million still to chip away. Here are eight Saints players who could be next to restructure their contracts:

F i l t e r   &   S o r t