Saints Salary Cap Discussion

Hate to see Pierre go but 0 dead money and 2.9 savings looks appealing.

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M. Jenkins - cut $1.6m

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that's imperfect

There is no savings cuz there is no contract. He's a free agent. Already gone unless re-signed.

Id like to see a new deal for Harper, he had a good year.

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Hate to see Pierre go but 0 dead money and 2.9 savings looks appealing.

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Certainly a possibility but let's look deeper...

-has led the Saints in rushing 3 of the past 6 years
-including 2013, twice as many carries as the next guy (Ingram)
-77 catches in 2013, 2nd on the team
-he had more catches than any other RB in the NFL
-IMO perhaps the best screen pass receiver/runner I have ever seen
-integral part of the team nucleus since 2007, clubhouse leader
-he was on the injury report the last 3 weeks of the season and did not play in the last two games
-for what he produces $2.9mil isn't a bad deal

It's a clear $2.9mil to save but can his production be replaced? And can you do it saving any money? We'll get to Sproles but a solid pass catching RB is a necessity for Payton.

As team friendly as his contract was, a new deal lowering the 2013 cap number could work. He won't be 30 until the end of next season.

I don't see an outright cut. What say ye?

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Payton has shown nothing to think he can rely on Ingram (24 catches in 3 yrs) or Robinson (0 catches) as a receiver.

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Absolutely.

Although, I think he likes Cadet. If we drop them both I see us taking a later round pick or scooping someone up in FA. Hate to say it, but I think with Sproles the "it's better to let them go a year early than a year too late." He can produce, but he's nothing left to give in returns and he's basically exclusively a third down back now. You can replace them pretty easily these days.

I think we keep Thomas longer than Sproles

I don't know. I'm torn on him. He played pretty well this year his past considered. He fits this defense perfectly as that third S who's down in the box and exceeded in that role.

His cap hit is $5,870,000 with $3,690,000 of dead money. At that rate you might as well keep him and see if he'd be willing to restructure a bit.

I know some of you guys hate it but just like last year where we had at least 10+ guys restructure(with 3 of those being actual pay cuts), you are going to see about the same amount of restructuring this year.

Some guys will get the extension restructuring treatment. Likely PT and Sproles and maybe a few more on one year deals.

Others will get the standard bonus up front to lower the salary number and spread out the hit treatment. Likely to be guys like Bunkley, Colston, Evans, and possibly Brees(I think they'd like to save him until next year though).

Then some guys may be asked to take a pay cut. These are going to be guys that can save at least $2+ mil if cut and have more than 1 year left so they're at a weaker bargaining position. This would be guys like Greer, Moore, and Harper.

Some of these can even overlap. For instance, we may ask Sproles to take a cut without extending him but both parties would likely be happy with a cheap extension(with some up front bonus money of course). All depends on what the player wants to do though.

The only guy on there that is a 100% cut unless he takes a massive pay cut is Smith(and by massive I mean down to about vet minimum).

Just wanted to state this before everyone thinks we are going to get cut happy. That has not been our way. We have been pushing money around for at least the past 3+ years, only cutting guys we know are replaced and save enough to make sense(usually backups like Dave Thomas and Chris Chamberlain).

No. If we cut him all his salary comes off the books, but all of the already paid bonuses(usually just signing bonus) stays.

So on Harper, we are still on the hook for his $2.72 mil signing bonus from this year and his $970,000 bonus next year if we cut him before his roster bonus kicks in.

If we cut him after that, we'd save $650,000 less(his roster bonus).

So the dead money you see is his $2.72 mil this year and his $970,000 next year accelerated into this year(which can be spread out if he's designated as a June 1st cut).

Jenkins walks as a FA, harper stays on a redone contract for this year.

3 starting safeties going into the season:
Vaccaro
Harper
Bush

My reasoning with dropping Jenkins? Even with a whole new scheme where everyone seems to excel in the position they were put in, jenkins showed time and time again that he is not a ballhawking FS and a poor tackler. He is an average FS and it is time for us to accept the fact that that's all he is, average. We need to improve on the position and for the money he will command, it is time to say good bye.

Keeping harper, bush, and vaccaro as our big 3 is pretty solid especially with bush showing glimpses of being able to play the safety position well without needing assistance after vaccaro went out with his injury.

We might be able to pick up an older FA vet that won't command much on a 1 year contract or a mid-late round S that could possibly be #4 on depth chart and contribute to special teams.

Next on my list:
Lance Moore
cap number - ~5mil
Dead money - ~2.5mil
cap savings - ~2.5mil

keep, redo contract, or say bye