re: Saints making “strong” push for Clowney.

LINK Report: Saints preparing contract restructures for Jadeveon Clowney cap hit

The New Orleans Saints are pulling out all of the stops in their pursuit of free agent defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, up to and including a quick trip to Houston for a member of the coaching staff to meet with him. They’re locked in a tight race with the Tennessee Titans to win Clowney’s services, but a few other teams could be waiting for their chance to strike.

And the Saints like their chances. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported Friday that the Saints have approached veteran players already under contract about restructuring their deals, creating much-needed salary cap space so that Clowney could get onto the books. While that’s hardly a sign that this deal is definitely going to happen, it does show that the Saints are considering the ripple effects it could have on their roster.

So which contracts could they be looking at adjusting? We dug into a few tricks the Saints have used to work around the salary cap already, but let’s really get into the nuts and bolts on this.

The Saints frequently restructure deals by converting current-year salaries into signing bonuses, which are paid out immediately but spread out across future years for cap accounting purposes. That means eligible players would be those under contract beyond 2020 and who carry high base salaries this season.

A few examples:

OL Nick Easton: $4.5 million base salary and $5.8 million cap hit, signed through 2022
DT Malcolm Brown: $4.1 million base salary and $6 million cap hit, signed through 2021
K Wil Lutz: $3.1 million base salary and $4.2 million cap hit, signed through 2023
P Thomas Morstead: $2.95 million base salary and $4.3 million cap hit, signed through 2022
RB Latavius Murray: $2.8 million base salary and $4.05 million cap hit, signed through 2022

So why doesn’t every team always restructure each contract to make more room? One downside is that new signing bonuses must be cashed out immediately, so team owners aren’t always eager to write more checks every summer (credit to Saints owner Gayle Benson for having no problem opening her pocketbook). Another pitfall is that restructures increase how much dead money would be left on the books from contracts should the Saints have to cut a player later on down the road. That’s a very real concern given expectations of a $175 million salary cap hit next year (down from $198.2 million this season, due to lost revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic).

Of course, that’s the easy way to restructure a contract. The Saints have also pioneered extensions that restructure existing deals to create more salary cap space in the past, and that’s certainly an option now. It’s just much more complicated.

The difficulty here is that future cap hits are raised so much that there’s no way of getting out of those contracts, so the Saints usually stick to franchise cornerstones like Drew Brees, Cameron Jordan, Terron Armstead, and Michael Thomas when going that route. Those are trusted players who the team knows will play well and be around for the future.

And in this case, the Saints have already chopped and screwed those contracts so much before that they aren’t in a position to do so right now. None of those players carries a base salary higher than $2.25 million (Jordan), leaving little salary to restructure in the first place. So this time, they probably aren’t an option.

However, the Saints could look to some of their 2021 free agents as options for a sign-and-restructure. The second-biggest cap figure on the team behind Brees belongs to Demario Davis, whose $7.35 million base salary makes up most of his $9.9 million cap hit. If the Saints can work out a long-term deal with Davis and convert much of that base salary to a signing bonus, they could make the room needed for Clowney’s contract.

Other options in the same boat as Davis are Jared Cook ($5 million base salary, $9 million cap hit) and Sheldon Rankins ($7.69 million; his cap hit is entirely made up of his base salary, which was guaranteed when his fifth-year contract option was picked up). The Saints could extend either of those players and create more breathing room, but Rankins is in a prove-it year and Cook is on the older side for a tight end. There’s some risk involved with tying the team to those contracts at this stage.

These are all things that Saints salary cap guru Khai Hartley is acutely aware of, and the team is smart to get proactive and see which players would be open to restructures sooner rather than later. Even if things fall apart with Clowney, it’s good to know they’ll have some flexibility should the right opportunity come up with another player, whether in free agency now or at the NFL trade deadline in October.

Great another SJW racist player signed.

LINK Report: Jadeveon Clowney likely to wait for roster cuts before signing

Former Seattle Seahawk Jadeveon Clowney is taking things as close to the wire as possible in free agency, leaving fans eager to see where the star edge rusher finally lands.

ESPN’s Dianna Russini took to Twitter on Friday to share that Clowney’s representation has advised him to refrain from signing with a team until the roster-cut process is in full swing, given that teams could then “possibly have extra money” to offer him.

The Titans, Saints, and Seahawks have all expressed serious interest in Clowney, with the Saints and Titans reportedly neck-and-neck in the battle to sign him; according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, New Orleans has gone so far as to approach veteran players about the possibility of contract restructures in the event of Clowney’s arrival. Titans coach Mike Vrabel confirmed to media on Friday that the team has made an offer to Clowney, while Pete Carroll simply repeated “always competing” in response to questions about a possible Seattle reunion.

In 2019, Clowney recorded three sacks, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and an interception for the Seahawks. Seattle has made an active effort over the offseason to address the issues at edge rusher with the signing of Benson Mayowa and Bruce Irvin, but Clowney is younger than both of them at 27 years old and would act as a massive boost to the unit.

Wherever Clowney ends up, come Monday, the dramatic saga should be resolved.

Cause he sucks.
I usly never say that but Rosen just can't see the field
He has the physical but not the mental

LINK Report: Saints' Sheldon Rankins pops up in trade talks

The Saints and rest of the NFL have to cut down their rosters to 53 players by Saturday afternoon. The way each club gets there is up to them. Cutting players is the most likely choice by many, but trade talks can certainly heat up and one interesting member of the Saints saw his name pop up in such conversations less than 24 hours before that deadline.

According to Albert Breer from the MMQB, Saints defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins has seen his name raised in trade talks prior to that deadline. Rainkins, New Orleans’ first-round pick at the 2016 NFL Draft, played in 10 games last season, notching two sacks and 10 tackles. 4

However, the 26-year-old has battled injuries since joining the Saints. Most recently, he’s suffered from Achilles issues. In 2020, Rankins is playing on the fifth-year option from his rookie deal. Per Spotrac, that fifth-year option pays him $7.7 million this season.

An effort to move Rankins could come about because of other contractual circumstances surrounding the team. On Friday, the Saints were reportedly preparing contract restructures in an effort to sign free agent pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney. In addition, it has recently been reported that running back Alvin Kamara is looking to get a new contract from the team.

That's interesting
Only thing that could be about is money

quote:

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That's interesting
Only thing that could be about is money

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Would save $7.6 against the cap. Since he likely is going to be very difficult to re-sign, may be trying to recoup something before he walks after the season.

WTF is going on...

LINK Report: Jadeveon Clowney fires agent again amid free agency tour

Here’s a new wrinkle to the Jadeveon Clowney saga: NBC Sports’ Mike Florio reported that Clowney has parted ways with his agent, Bus Cook of B.C. Sports. It would be the second year in a row in which Clowney has fired his agent near Labor Day weekend; unsatisfied with progress on a long-term deal with the Houston Texans, Clowney briefly went without Cook’s representation before re-hiring him four days later.

It’s unclear what the play is this time. Clowney could be looking to hire a new agent (Florio added that Kennard McGuire of MS World LLC is a strong possibility), but Cook would have to waive the NFL-mandated, five-day window preventing Clowney from bring in new representation if he’s going to sign a contract with the New Orleans Saints or anyone else.

Of course, Clowney could always negotiate the deal himself, but results have been mixed when NFL players have represented themselves in these sort of contract talks.

Maybe this will end up going smoothly for the Saints as they work on a one-year contract offer for Clowney. But he already knows what the Tennessee Titans can offer him; Titans coach Mike Vrabel, Clowney’s former position coach with the Texans, said as much Friday when he confirmed that his team’s offer is on the table. If things get too sketchy with the Saints without an experienced agent on hand to review their contract offer, Clowney could very well go with the known quantity in Tennessee.

Clowney is kind of weird.