Experts believe Saints are being held back by two of the worst contracts in the NFL

In recent years, every offseason for the New Orleans Saints has been about the salary cap. While most teams spend the offseason making explosive moves to improve their roster, the Saints typically spend the offseason restructuring contracts to get under the salary cap, while trying to keep their core veterans on the roster. This year has been no different. Early in the offseason, we saw the usual restructures form New Orleans, and now, the team is dealing with Alvin Kamara’s contract situation.

Usually, these are problems that elite teams face. It’s expensive to have a lot of good players, so teams manage as best as possible. However, the Saints aren’t an elite team. They haven’t made the postseason in three years, finishing with mediocre records in all three seasons.

The reason New Orleans is facing cap challenges without the success is bad contracts. David Kenyon made that argument in a recent piece for Bleacher Report, ranking the 10 worst contracts in the NFL ahead of the 2024 season. Unfortunately for the Saints, they had two players in the top 10: Taysom Hill and Derek Carr.

Taysom Hill and Derek Carr’s contracts ranked amongst worst in the league

Hill’s four-year, $40 million contract was ranked at No. 6 on the list. Kenyon argued that “the idea of Taysom Hill has consistently been more exciting than his actual performance.” Kenyon went on to acknowledge that Hill has been useful for the Saints in several ways, but ultimately believes he hasn’t been worth the price.

Three spots ahead of that at No. 3 was Derek Carr’s four-year, $150 million contract that the Saints gave Carr just last offseason. Kenyon broke down how restructures have pushed Carr’s “cap hits to north of $50 and 60 million in 2025 and 2026, respectively.” Additionally, it was highlighted that a realistic out isn’t until 2027; moving on from Carr before that would be extremely costly for New Orleans.

The only thing that can make all of this better is winning. If Carr, Hill, and the Saints put together an elite season, everything will be worth it. Until that happens, these deals will continue to be viewed as bad contracts.

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