Saints Salary Cap Restructure Season in New Orleans
It's everyone's favorite time of year in New Orleans, salary recap structure season!
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00:00 You know as far as the Saints go
00:02 Nothing, they're a little busy, right?
00:04 Yeah a little bit, right? I mean, you know because everybody you know, it's it's it's salary cap cutting season, right?
00:13 It's all those types of things. It's a
00:15 Restructure season whatever you want to call it and and you know
00:19 The NFL released their new final cap figure and it was higher than expected
00:23 You know, it was some of the makeup from that Cove a deer. So 255 point four million
00:28 It's up 30 million dollars and so coming into it Saints, you know, we're right around, you know, what 70 80 million
00:35 And so it's all that voodoo math that you had to do and
00:41 They announced a regular figure they get restructures done with Derek Carr Eric McCoy
00:46 Nathan Shepard once coming with Cesar Ruiz and it suddenly they're just 40 million dollars over and that's not even counting
00:53 What Shepard's hit was gonna be I?
00:55 Know people talked about we talked about this last week in the can doing all this fun stuff
01:01 Are you surprised that they did any of this with Derek Carr because now you got to remember?
01:06 This is a long-term plan with Derek Carr. This is not a oh we got him for a year
01:10 I mean, this is something that you know everything I was told this is a long-term commit with Derek Carr
01:16 This is not just a he's gonna be our quarterback for you another year and then they're probably gonna move on
01:21 They want him to they see him as a long-term option here
01:23 Yeah, absolutely. And that's what you're gonna do when you go out there and you sign a quarterback to you know, a four or five
01:29 You know four or five year deal and all this stuff and then you you've got thirty million dollar base salaries and everything
01:34 Like you're you're building that contract with the intent to restructure with the intent to move some of that money down the way
01:40 Shout out to Jonathan who's Mike my cap my cap third buddy on on X. I know he's ready
01:46 I know he's ready with the with with the with the screenshots
01:49 But like you're always that that was always gonna be the plan with this right and and I've had people who have asked me before
01:55 Like, okay. Well now that the Saints have done this are they married to Derek Carr for 2025?
01:59 And here's the way that I put it the Saints are married to Derek Carr in 2025 because they're gonna want Derek Carr in
02:04 2025 to be their quarterback like that's the most likely situation here
02:08 But they're not necessarily married to him just because they restructured the contract like if you're in a situation
02:12 As an NFL franchise, we're in let's say you go into 2024 and you win two or three games and you decide
02:19 Okay, we're gonna blow all this up. We're gonna agree. Yeah, we're gonna reboot
02:22 We're gonna take the medicine for a year and then get back to rebuilding in 2026 to be competitive
02:26 It is that that kind of have one of those
02:28 Tampa 2023 s that turned out they could be very competitive even in that situation and everything then it doesn't matter the dead money that
02:35 You take on like that's not a part of the conversation anymore
02:38 If you're making that decision to move on from your quarterback to move on from your head coach to move on from your staff to
02:44 You know reboot as best as possible
02:46 Then the dead money conversation isn't going to be relevant
02:49 You're gonna post June 1 designate moves things like that kick some of that stuff down the road still and then you know
02:54 Spread it out over the course of maybe two years of medicine taking if you will and then you're right back at it again
02:59 In 2026 2027, you know and so but that's not the plan, right?
03:04 The plan here was bring Derek hard in New Orleans for the 2023 season
03:08 The contract was built and structured specifically so that they would be able to continue to restructure it
03:13 It's gonna happen again probably in 2025. In fact another 10 million dollars if it's 2025 salary becomes guaranteed
03:20 Less than a month from today as the new leader begins. I think it's March 15th if I remember correctly
03:25 Yeah, yeah fifth day of the league it's gonna hit fifth day of the league year in 2025. Yeah, right
03:31 Yeah, so but it's this year where that 10 million dollars is gonna be tacked on to 2025, right?
03:37 Right, so you're you're making a year you're making a
03:41 an eight figure
03:43 Year prior commitment to Derek are like that's going to be the intent is for him to be here in 2025
03:49 and look one of the things that I'll point out is that
03:52 Dennis Allen and the Saints as they've talked about Clint Kubiak coming in as office accorded to this new system all those other things they
03:58 Keep saying quarterback friendly quarterback friendly quarterback friendly. And so that's what that's what it is
04:03 You're trying to get the quarterback friendly system in that's going to effectively make every analysis then be about Derek Carr, right?
04:10 but also put you in a situation to where you're you're
04:13 Trying to aid that quarterback that you want in the building and that's that's where I think the new role it takes you're gonna go
04:19 with all that
04:20 Yeah, and I mean, you know again you look at these contracts
04:23 There's more that they can be able to do and of course cars not a surprise. That was their biggest cat cap it
04:29 I mean coming in he was 11% of the figure and so again you look at the relief the way they
04:34 Employ things like what they did with their record. They added a void year in 2028
04:38 So, I mean if you do
04:40 Math or whatever. Yeah, it's just it's a common practice the Saints employ and why don't other teams do it?
04:48 I think you know when you look at it, it it makes sense
04:51 But again, you have to see some results this season
04:54 I feel like because you know, you're sitting there kind of like, okay, we're getting a little bit older
04:59 We probably need to inject some youth here get some things going some changes going and hopefully that kind of happens
05:06 and so, you know, one of the things that I would say here also on the cap is
05:10 When you're looking at the salary cap because some people were confused by this is that you know
05:16 What it's not as simple as Derek Carr restructures 30 million and then right, you know
05:21 The math is you're you're sporty over use 30 million dollars here and you should only be 10. It's top 51
05:27 That's in fact in effect. So if you restructure Derek Carr's contract and it saves
05:32 25 million or whatever the case what is it between him and McCoy?
05:36 However much that was you still have to to minus out the the bottom 51 of that contract?
05:42 So if that's like three million dollars, that's where the difference comes in for a lot of this in the salary cap
05:47 and so it's a little bit interesting as far as how the cap management goes for this team and
05:53 again
05:54 they're gonna have
05:54 decisions to make in in some of that stuff is gonna hurt them in some aspects to dead money and things are gonna come with
06:00 Michael Thomas and what are they gonna do with Marcus May if he's a post-tune first cut they they save some money there
06:06 you know and of course that's a decision they're gonna have to make but
06:09 you know, everybody has their own opinion about the cap the Saints this is just a common practice and
06:15 You know more are gonna come especially while we're at the combine
06:19 It's just gonna happen because they're gonna have the space. They're gonna make space. They have to sign some free agents
06:25 They're going to sign free agents and then they got to make room for the draft class, too
06:29 Yeah, and they're not the only ones that do this at draft class
06:32 by the way
06:32 at least as of right now considering their picks that they have is gonna be around like five million dollars or so in terms of
06:38 Like the effective use of all of that and everything and so they're not the only ones that do this either
06:42 I mean the Rams do a little bit of this the Eagles do a little bit of this the Vikings do a bit of it
06:46 The Steelers have always kind of done the backload contract thing
06:49 So I think that like what a lot of people think of with dead money is oh, well, that's money that can't be spent
06:55 Which isn't true
06:55 It's money that's already been spent is all that it is and and so when you think about the fact that when they go out
07:00 And they hit free agency and they you know go into
07:03 The beginning of the league year 100 million dollars over the salary cap and then they turn around and they sign a quarterback for 35
07:09 Plus million dollars per year. How do they do that?
07:12 Well, they keep the front of that contract very very low that first year contract
07:18 base salary wise is usually
07:21 Veteran minimum which for somebody that's played more than seven years in the NFL
07:26 it's like 1.25 million dollars somewhere around there and then you know the the pro rate of the
07:32 Fifth if you will of the signing bonus that that player is given and that's their cap hit for the year
07:39 So it doesn't stop them from spending money
07:41 Then all of a sudden the base salary goes up to 30 million dollars 35 million dollars 40 million dollars for the end of the contract
07:46 That's effectively how they structured portions of Derek Carr's contract
07:50 So, you know with them being able to restructure save money or or move money
07:55 Let me say that more appropriately that way it doesn't actually stop them from spending money as well
08:01 They're spending the same amount of money
08:02 They're just spending it over a longer period of time that sometimes outlast
08:06 when that player is in the you know is on the roster the tricky part becomes
08:11 When multiple of those players are off the roster in the same season or in the same offseason because then whatever money is left
08:19 Accelerates to right away unless you can defer it with a post June one designation in terms of that cut
08:24 But you can only do that for two players each year
08:27 So you got to balance all of it and that's why guys like Mickey Loomis and particularly Kai Harley get paid
08:31 Big big big big bucks to move around big big big big bucks and we're gonna make it all work
08:37 So it's it's all part of what the plan is in terms of you know
08:41 How they move that money around and then how they spend that money and still bring in those, you know
08:46 Big free agents and things like that