The New Orleans Saints shifted gears and finally traded star cornerback Marshon Lattimore this week, just before the NFL trade deadline, sending thee playmaker to the Washington Commanders in exchange for multiple draft picks. But that isn’t the only cost of trading him. How did this move impact the Saints’ tense salary cap situation?
In brief, this will be felt for years. There isn’t much of a difference on 2024’s accounting since we’re in the middle of the season. Washington is paying the rest of Lattimore’s salary, saving the Saints about $605,000, but since he restructured his contract already they’re stuck with most of the dead money from those guarantees.
Let’s start with the bad news. The Saints are taking their medicine in 2025 with Lattimore counting against the cap by a whopping $31.6 million. Next year’s salary cap is projected to rise to about $273.3 million, but we won’t know the final number until the offseason. If it doesn’t move at all (it won’t), Lattimore’s dead money figure would take up 12.4% of this year’s cap, which was set at $255.4 million. If models are accurate, it’ll be almost 11.6% of the cap next year in 2025.
But the Saints shaved off more than $28 million from their 2026 salary cap spending. The cap is projected to reach as high as $292.4 million by then, which means their current cap commitments (about $237.9 million) are well beneath the spending limit. Inevitable restructures, free agent signings, and the next draft class will change that figure but so will any retirements and roster cuts this spring. We’re talking two years out so of course there’s going to be a lot of uncertainty.
This is a step in the right direction. The Saints didn’t get better by trading their best defender (if not their best player regardless of position), but their finances are going to improve. So is their ability to retain talent and sign upgrades in free agency. This is what a rebuild looks like. It isn’t pretty, and it won’t wrap up overnight. But the Saints tried the alternative — which blew up in their faces by hiring the wrong head coach and drafting the wrong players. So now they have to take the long, hard road back to success.
