Saints have started the contract restructuring

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The New Orleans Saints have begun their annual maneuvering to clear salary cap space.

And to get cap compliant this year, all it took was a few moves.

According to the NFLPA’s salary cap database, the Saints initially restructured three players ahead of free agency opening next week. That, plus the reported restructure of Chase Young, now gives the Saints an estimated $20 million in cap space, according to Over The Cap.


The Saints, who entered the offseason with a much healthier cap sheet than in past years, have the potential to open even more room if they elect to touch other contracts.

Here’s what they’ve done so far

Juwan Johnson
Johnson had $7.85 million of his base salary converted, dropping his cap number to $5.2 million. As a reminder, a simple restructure his contract does not actually cost them money. But each deal increases the cap hit of the next year and often tacks on void years.

Cap savings: nearly $6.3 million

Justin Reid
The Saints gave Reid a three-year deal last offseason, making the contract a prime candidate to touch. They converted $7.9 million into a signing bonus, dropping his cap hit to $5.2 million.

Cap savings: $6.3 million

Alvin Kamara

This one was surprising, but according to New Orleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, Kamara’s restructure wasn’t a standard conversion. But according to NFLPA records, Kamara’s base salary dropped from $11.5 million to $1.3 million, dropping his cap hit from $18.2 million to nearly $10.1 million.

Cap savings: $8.1 million

Chase Young
The Saints converted nearly $13.7 million of Young’s 2026 base salary to a prorated signing bonus, lowering his cap hit to $9.6 million. Young's restructure has yet to be officially processed, but was reportedly converted on Thursday.

Projected Cap savings: $10.9 million

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