Free Agent Talk

Time to start looking at the landscape of what names could be brought in. The draft talk is all very fluid until we see what happens there.

First, who is likely to go or must have major pay cuts? The Saints currently have the second highest projected salaries next year and are several million over the projected cap. So fat will have to be cut out of necessity.

Will Smith- Cap hit $14.5+, will cost $2-5.5mil to cut but save $9mil, hard to see him back even cheap. Same age Osi or Freeney could be stopgap replacements for less. Avril or Michael Johnnson if they wanna spend bigger for someone to be the pass rushing answer.

Vilma- Cap hit $6.5mil, will cost $500K-1.7mil to cut but save $4.8mil, love his smarts & leadership but with play clearly in decline will have to take massive reduction to be worth his production IMO. Not seeing a lot of WLB UFA potential. Shaun Phillips is the only one that I've seen for good price/production possibility. Connor Barwin but I count Houston tagging him before letting him hit the market.

Harper- cap hit the next two years- $15mil, about $4mil to cut him and save $11+mil. I'm a Harper supporter for his quality of play. It just isn't up to his 9th highest paid safety contract. He's above average but not with the guys he shares pay class with- Polamalu, Weddle, Goldson, etc. Wouldn't forecast a cut but extend and reduce the hit. Would you rather UFA William Moore from the dirty birds?

David Thomas- has filled his role but always dinged up it seems. $2.2mil cap hit, $500-700K to cut, save $1.5mil Might be time for a cheaper, younger, and healthier backup

Jabari Greer- like him but he'll be 31 next year. Cap hit for next 3 yrs- $17+mil, $4-5mil to cut, save almost $12mil. Would like and expect him back but younger and cheaper might be necessitated.

It's rough looking cap-wise. A bunch of guys cap numbers escalate in big steps. In $millions:
Brees 10.4 to 17.4
Colston 3.3 to 6.6
Lance 2.3 to 4.5
Lofton 1.7 to 7.1
Hawthorne 1.5 to 4.8
Bunkley 1.6 to 4.7
Grubbs 2.7 to 7.3
Evans 3.4 to 10
Dayum, that's $36mil more, over 25% of the team cap, just in pay raises

Biggest re-up costs would be extending Graham and a new deal for Bushrod. LT is a huge question. Bushmaster back, Brown ready?, a different UFA (Clady, Albert, Long, etc?), or a 1st Rd step in for 10yrs (Lewan, Fisher, Matthews).

Who goes, stays, and who comes in?