For years, the Saints have led the league in terms of cap compliance. In that regard, the 2024 offseason appears to be no exception, with restructures projected to be a common technique.
New Orleans has a veteran-laden team and has repeatedly chosen to avoid a severe financial reset by creating current budget room at the expense of future years. This has forced the team to make a number of difficult decisions, but general manager Mickey Loomis has managed to keep the core together while still being active in free agency. When asked about this offseason, he stated that a significant adjustment in operations will not occur.
“I don’t know if change is the right word,” Loomis told NOLA.com’s Matthew Paras. “We just have to be cognizant of making up ground in the next years, and there are various ways to do it. I’ve already stated to the media that it’s important to consider more than just numbers, such as the number of players under contract, roster composition, and core players. “There are just so many variables.”
The Saints, who are expected to go well over the cap for the new league year, have begun reworking some of their most lucrative contracts. That includes cornerback Marshon Lattimore, who, according to ESPN’s Field Yates, had a significant portion of his 2024 base salary turned into an option bonus. The move freed up slightly more than $11 million in cap space for the current year. According to Yates’ colleague Katherine Terrell and Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football, Lattimore’s reworked contract includes a de-escalation clause for offseason exercise participation.
According to Underhill, Lattimore’s option bonus does not take effect until one week before the start of the 2024 campaign (subscription required). That might open up a window for a trade, which would be surprising given the four-time Pro Bowler’s significance to the New Orleans defence. Lattimore is under contract until 2026, but like many Saints, his deal includes several blank years.
The same is true for quarterback Jameis Winston. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Winston agreed to include vacant years in his contract, which will go into effect shortly after the new league year begins in March. He is still on course to become a free agent, but the move will stretch his cap hit over several seasons. According to Terrell, Winston was slated to face a $10.6MM cap charge if he did not re-sign. The 30-year-old has been with New Orleans since 2020 and might be retained as a backup this spring.
However, designating him for a release after June 1 is also an option. The new Winston contract includes large bonuses in the void years of 2025 and 2028, according to Terrell, but a post-June 1 cut would result in a tiny dead cap penalty of $3.87MM in each of the next two years.
Several other Saints players, including Lattimore and Winston, may soon see big changes to their contracts as New Orleans attempts to stay under the 2024 cap ceiling. All teams must comply by March 13, but the Saints, as usual, face one of the most difficult hurdles.
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