This is interesting: ESPN’s Field Yates reported that the New Orleans Saints re-signed defensive end Carl Granderson, one of their exclusive rights free agents, but he later added that Granderson inked a two-year deal with the Saints rather than a typical one-year contract extension. That means he’ll be with New Orleans through 2022 and 2023, finally reaching unrestricted free agency in 2024.
That’s significant for a couple of different reasons, which we’ll get to in a second. Yates clarified that the Saints paid Granderson $4.3 million in addition to the $965,000 he qualified for as an exclusive rights free agent — that’s equal to what a second-round restricted free agent tender could be worth next year. So why did they do that?
