We’ve made it: New Orleans Saints rookies reported for training camp this week, and their veteran teammates will join them next week before practice kicks off for the entire team.
The Saints have made plenty of additions this offseason already, but they might not be finished just yet. New Orleans has access to more unspent salary cap space than is typical for them this of the year, even after second-round draft pick Isaiah Foskey signed his rookie deal on Tuesday. What should general manager Mickey Loomis and his right-hand man Khai Harley, the team’s vice president of football administration, do with those resources?
Let’s break it down:
How much cap space do the Saints have?
The most accurate estimate comes from Over The Cap, whose analysts say the Saints are under the cap by as much as $13,347,203 at time of writing. Another popular sports finance outlet, Spotrac, posits a more-conservative $10,133,421 figure (which doesn’t account for Foskey’s contract). The NFL Players Association is often a few days behind media outlets in reporting public salary cap data, but they have New Orleans in the clear by $14,423,731.
OTC’s numbers are usually the most reliable given their sources among player agents and front offices around the league, so the $13.3 million they’re using is likely closest to what the Saints are working with internally.
Contract extensions should be expected
This is the time of the year when the Saints finalize long-term extensions with cornerstone players — in recent year’s they’ve hammered out last-minute deals with playmakers like Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramczyk, Demario Davis, and Alvin Kamara. More extensions could be coming.
We already know that Cameron Jordan is a priority for them, and he’s made it clear he’s receptive to finishing his career in black and gold. That should work out sooner rather than later, but who are some other players that could sign multiyear extensions with the Saints?
Look at their list of pending free agents for 2024: starters like right guard Cesar Ruiz and defensive end Carl Granderson are both set to test the market next March barring new deals. So are unique cases like quarterback Jameis Winston and wide receiver Michael Thomas, though in Winston’s case he’s likely hoping for a warm reception in free agency in the spring while Thomas is hoping for a return to good health so he can reestablish himself as a premier talent.
More free agent additions make sense
The Saints still have some holes to plug on their roster. They could use some more defensive linemen with real pro experience both at tackle and end. Yannick Ngakoue is the best edge rusher left on the market and there are veteran interior linemen available like Matt Ioannidis and Shelby Harris, but the proposed pay would and envisioned role would need to be agreeable for the Saints to land any of them. Don’t look for Jadeveon Clowney to reunite with his old defensive coordinator Joe Woods after he publicly criticized the coach last season.
Depth in the linebacker corps is also unproven. Demario Davis has been a rock for the Saints, but Pete Werner’s durability issues have become a concern (with injuries sidelining him for 5 games in 2022). There are high hopes for Zack Baun and D’Marco Jackson but they’re both returning from season-ending injuries. Behind them is a mix of journeymen and undrafted rookies. Someone like Kwon Alexander would build a lot of confidence in the group, but he wants to compete for a starting job, and that’s unlikely to happen in New Orleans.
You could make an argument for another investment along the offensive line given the injury histories of all five projected starters:
- Trevor Penning missed 11 games in 2022
- Andrus Peat missed 6 games in 2022 and 11 games in 2021
- Erik McCoy missed 4 games in 2022 and 5 games in 2021
- Cesar Ruiz missed 2 games in 2022
- Ryan Ramczyk missed 1 game in 2022 and 7 games in 2021
What about a trade?
There’s been smoke linking the Saints to a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for slot receiver Hunter Renfrow for months now, even predating the landmark signing of Derek Carr, who connected with Renfrow on as many touchdown receptions in 2021 alone (9) as Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, and Rashid Shaheed scored together in 2022. Olave, Thomas, and Shaheed all missed time in the offseason program with injuries of varying severity, and Renfrow makes a lot of sense for what the Saints want to do offensively.
Trading Renfrow now would save the Raiders more than $6.9 million. Las Vegas currently has the third-lowest cap space in the league per OTC at just $2.8 million so moving Renfrow would offer some much-needed relief. And trading for Renfrow would leave the Saints on the hook for his base salaries of $6.5 million in 2023 and $11.1 million in 2024, but that can be reduced dramatically through a restructure or a new deal altogether; we’ve already talked about the options available at length. If the Saints and Raiders can agree on trade compensation, New Orleans has enough cap space to fit Renfrow on the books.
Setting realistic expectations
It would be nice for the Saints to make an exciting move to send things into training camp with a little more momentum, but that’s just not likely. They’ve had ample time to acquire more players and fill out the depth chart this summer, and odds are they’ll continue to focus on getting a head start on extensions with pending 2024 free agents like Jordan while signing a few street free agents to minimum deals as competition for the bottom of the roster.
But you never know. Deadlines spur action, and if the Saints don’t like what they see after a few training camp practices they could shake things up. They’ve made moves to bring in players like Bradley Roby late in the offseason after being dissatisfied with the level of competition in camp. If there are too many dropped passes or practices missed by receivers battling injury, we might finally get a resolution to six months of speculation on whether Renfrow will continue to catch passes from Carr.
