re: Saints Salary Cap Discussion

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).