It's a tale as old as time: heading into next week's start of free agency, the Saints are in cap hell. According to Over The Cap, as things stand today, New Orleans is one of eight teams whose cap number is still in the red. And right now, only three teams – the Bills, the Dolphins, and the Chargers – have a worse cap issue to work through. Buffalo set the tone on Wednesday, cutting a half-dozen big name (and big salary) players, and the Chargers probably aren't too far behind.
If any team is used to dealing with this year in and year out, however, it's the Saints. New Orleans seems to constantly be battling cap issues, and always finds a way to work themselves out of the bind. Like most NFL teams, the top of the Saints' list of cap space allocation is full of names that may not exactly be premier players anymore, which means there are a couple different ways the team could go about clearing space. Some of them may sting more than others, but despite having a bleak outlook on paper, there are a couple simple ways that they can right the ship. These two are the most obvious.
Cut Ryan Ramczyk
No one on the Saints makes more money than Ramczyk, who signed a five-year, $96 million extension before the start of the 2022 season, making him the highest-paid right tackle in football. The big numbers start to kick in this season, when his cap hit balloons from $11 million (5% of the Saints' cap) to $27 million (10%). After that, the Saints are on the hook for $28 million in 2025, and $25 million in 2026.
Credit where it's due: Ramczyk's been good basically every year of his career. 2023 was his "worst" year to date, and it was still good: per PFF, he was still a plus player both in run and pass blocking. Among all tackles, his overall grade (73.5) still put him among the top 30 (26, to be specific), with both his run and pass block grades not far behind. He was also the 2nd best lineman on the Saints this season, ranking only behind center Erik McCoy.
So, it would be a bit of a surprising move. Elite tackles don't grow on trees, and even almost-elite tackles have a ton of value in today's NFL. Depending on the week, Ramczyk fits into one of those two categories, and there's certainly an argument to be made that he's worth the money. But with all that being said, he'll be 30 when next season starts, and is coming off two years of consecutive "decline" in play. If the Saints were to designate him a post-June 1 cut, it'd save them $17 million against the cap. Losing a player of his caliber would be tough, but probably not as tough as paying huge money, for multiple seasons, to a right tackle who's past his prime.
Move Marshon Lattimore
Lattimore got almost the exact same extension that Ramczyk got, signing a five-year, $97 million extension right at the start of the 2021 season. Since then, he's struggled to stay on the field: in 2022, he only appeared in seven games and in 2023, he only appeared in 10. Injuries have been an issue throughout his entire career, as the talented corner has yet to ever play a full 17-game season.
On top of all that, the results have been mixed. After an electric rookie season in 2017, Lattimore's failed to produce at the same level in most seasons (his 16-game 2021 season being the exception.) He's still young – he'll be 28 next season – but it's fair to wonder if it's smart for the Saints to pay big money for a corner who consistently misses big chunks of the season. His cap hits are about to get huge, too: in 2025, it'll be over $31 million (12.5% of the cap). There's really no way the Saints can avoid swallowing a bunch of dead money, unless they wanted to approach him about a restructure. But, of all the options available, a post-June 1 trade would save them the most money, both in 2024 and beyond.
Otherwise, Cam Jordan, Alvin Kamara, and Taysom Hill are the only guys where a move would save the Saints a big chunk of cash. Hill especially is worth keeping an eye on – he's 33 years old, and a post-June 1 cut would save the Saints a bunch of money over the next couple years.