Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
The New Orleans Saints have plenty of work to do to get under the salary cap, and these three players could be surprise offseason cuts.
A lowered salary cap in 2021 made life tougher for all 32 NFL teams, but things have moved back to normal for 2022. But there will always be teams in cap trouble, and with that I present the New Orleans Saints.
According to Over The Cap, the Saints are nearly $76.2 million over the $208.2 million salary cap for 2022 right now. That is by far the worst situation in the league, especially now with the Green Bay Packers clearing some room in their own effort to get out of the red.
Contract restructures, trades and outright cuts will allow the Saints to get under the salary cap, and they’ll of course have to sign players and draft picks. But there is a lot of work to do, no doubt. Per Over The Cap’s handy chart, siimple contract restructures would allow the Saints to clear as much as $101.4 million in cap space.
Nothing will be off-limits for the Saints to rework their balance sheet, and rework might not do what has to be done justice.
Here are three surprise cuts Saints general manager Mickey Loomis could decide to make this offseason.
3 surprise cuts the New Orleans Saints could make this offseason
3. OG Andrus Peat
Peat signed a five-year, $57.5 million deal with the Saints in 2020, with a restructuring to help clear some cap space last year. Then the three-time Pro Bowl was finished after six games in 2021 due to a torn pec. He missed three games in 2020, six in 2019 and three more in 2018. His drop-off has been noted by Pro Football Focus’ grading (20.1 pass blocking grade in 2021).
Peat is set to carry a $15.45 million cap hit this year. Even a post-June 1 cut would leave all of that behind as dead money for the Saints, with zero cap savings. So cutting him would be with an eye on taking away obligations in 2023 and 2024 for a declining player, but it’s absolutely not out of the question for it to be done this offseason.