The New Orleans Saints started their off-season with a league-high of $ 76.5 million over the 2024 NFL salary cap. The official NFL 2024 salary cap will be $255.4 million per club. They offer an additional $74 million per club for player benefits. That also includes Performance Based Pay as well as benefits for retired players.
New Orleans Saints Run Over the Salary Cap Again
The New Orleans Saints are approximately 30 percent over the cap as they head into the offseason. The Saints are going to need to be under the cap and they need to start creating cap space immediately. That must be done by the start of the new league year on March 13th. However, that is just going to prolong their current problem. Since 2012, the New Orleans Saints have spent almost every offseason significantly trying to become salary cap compliant.
The Saints Back to Their Same Old Game Plan
The NFL currently allows teams to allocate portions of a player’s compensation. The team can allocate these funds over five years when they provide compensation as a signing bonus for a new contract. Applying simple restructurings on every eligible player on their roster will only clear $48.5 million in current cap commitments. Doing so will only get them a little more than halfway there. Furthermore, they will still be well over the NFL in cap commitments in the future by $47 million already. When the Saints push these 2024 cap commitments into the future, they will be right back where they started.
How the New Orleans Saints Can Strategically Get Under the 2024 Cap
New Orleans has 55 players under contract for the 2024 season. They will need to pay their NFL Draft picks, plus fill out their roster with role players. During the offseason, only the top 51 contracts count. By the beginning of the regular season, all 53 of their players on the roster will need to be under the cap. This will also include the practice squad and reserve lists. Ultimately, the Saints will have no choice but to be very selective about who receives contracts.
If they have any intentions of significantly lowering their salary cap, they can’t afford any more reckless signing. Throughout the last several years, Derek Carr and Jameis Winston saw their cap hits get pushed into future seasons. The New Orleans Saints signed Jameis Winston to a new deal in 2022. In 2023, Derek Carr was signed to a four-year deal with $100 million guaranteed. On Feb. 23, they made the move with Carr’s contract. Additionally, this opened around $23 million in space. Another restructuring of contracts must be done as well. Adding onto the contract adjustments, tougher negotiations for underperforming veterans should be considered.
Chipping Away at the New Salary Cap
We believe the Saints can successfully reach cap compliance. They are also capable of then making room without losing many key free agents or having to cut foundational players. The salary cap just hasn’t gone up enough to alleviate the process for the New Orleans Saints. We’ll have to watch and see how much they can do by restructuring the entire team’s contracts.
About The Author
Ana Holness is an avid sports enthusiast and content writer. She brings a deep passion for basketball and football to her work. Ana strives to provide engaging and insightful content for sports fans everywhere. Her writing blends a love for the game with a commitment to delivering informative analysis and captivating storytelling. She aims to capture the excitement and drama of sports through her writing. For more great content, follow her on Twitter @FireZAngel111 and @TotalApexSports