The New Orleans Saints are coming off a 5-12 season, and they haven’t made the playoffs in four years. Gone are the days when Drew Brees and Sean Payton had the Saints as perennial contenders. Now, New Orleans is just trying to escape the cycle of mediocrity it’s been trapped in since Brees retried.
Despite this being the current state of the team, the Saints will have some eyes on them this offseason. That was made clear in a recent ESPN piece, where Adam Schefter named the five most interesting teams for the 2025 offseason. The Saints were ranked No. 3, but for all the wrong reasons.
Schefter highlighted how New Orleans has a new head coach in Kellen Moore, but the team is projected to be $60 million over the salary cap, without many clear cost-cutting decisions. For that reason, the league will be watching the Saints this offseason.
"The Saints enter the offseason roughly $60 million over the cap, and they can't get much relief from quarterback Derek Carr, who has $10 million guaranteed for 2025 with another $30 million scheduled to kick in March 15. Moving on from Carr would save them only a couple of million dollars, meaning he probably will be the team's QB1 entering 2025. But the team will have to find cap space and roster improvements elsewhere."Adam Schefter (ESPN)
Saints considered an interesting offseason team because of their horrific cap situation
As bad as this is, this has unfortunately become commonplace in New Orleans. Every year, the franchise enters the offseason significantly over the salary cap, and they somehow make the necessary moves to get under. Some applaud the salary cap gymnastics, arguing that New Orleans proves it’s all fake, and others criticize the Saints, arguing that their can-kicking method is the reason they are stuck in a mediocre state.
The last few years certainly makes it seem like the latter group is correct. New Orleans hasn’t been able to make many moves to improve its roster, because it’s always battling the salary cap. As a result, the Saints have been left with a thin, old, expensive roster. With a new head coach in town, that’s ready to compete, everyone will be waiting to see if New Orlenans can switch things up this offseason.