Underhill hints at a Ram retirement (3 Viewers)

[SigFreudianSlip]

For his long term health I hope he hangs it up. No matter the cap ramifications.

 

[oysters]

For his long term health I hope he hangs it up. No matter the cap ramifications.

Oh I 100% agree he should retire. Not saying he should play again or even attempt it. Just to hold off on announcing it for like 1.5 years

 

[SigFreudianSlip]

Oh I 100% agree he should retire. Not saying he should play again or even attempt it. Just to hold off on announcing it for like 1.5 years

oh I get it.

 

[AustSaint]

Ram needs to do what is best for himself and his family, that being said Ram seems to have a good relationship with the Saints,so he might be willing to drop that cap number to help the team out.

 

[joe87]

Oh I 100% agree he should retire. Not saying he should play again or even attempt it. Just to hold off on announcing it for like 1.5 years

It’s a shame that teams are penalized for early player retirements. There should be some sort of cap waiver i these circumstances.

 

[RJS]

It’s a shame that teams are penalized for early player retirements. There should be some sort of cap waiver i these circumstances.

I agree in theory but it's hard to think of a good way to do it that couldn't be manipulated to circumvent the salary cap.

 

[Clintonrebel]

I agree in theory but it's hard to think of a good way to do it that couldn't be manipulated to circumvent the salary cap.

Haha, imagine the stuff Loomis could come up with under that scenario.

 

[ASaintFerLife]

It’s a shame that teams are penalized for early player retirements. There should be some sort of cap waiver i these circumstances.

I totally agree, there should be an easier way out. BUT we have pushed so much of his previous years salary forward by kicking the can down the road we still have to pay for previous restructures.

 

[Merl]

What many don't realize is that if a player retires mid contract the team can require the player to pay back the prorated signing bonus for that years left on his contract. I know of 4 cases where teams have done that or at least partially. When Calvin Johnson retired in 2017 the lions made him pay back half of the signing bonus ($1.6M) The team gets a cap credit when they recieve the money. They also made Barry Sanders pay back when he retired. SF made Patrick Willis and a first year LB who also retired the same year as Willis payback their signing bonus.

 

[Rouxble]

What many don't realize is that if a player retires mid contract the team can require the player to pay back the prorated signing bonus for that years left on his contract. I know of 4 cases where teams have done that or at least partially. When Calvin Johnson retired in 2017 the lions made him pay back half of the signing bonus ($1.6M) The team gets a cap credit when they recieve the money. They also made Barry Sanders pay back when he retired. SF made Patrick Willis and a first year LB who also retired the same year as Willis payback their signing bonus.

I don't think the Saints will go after signing bonus money given that he is retiring for health reasons. He has also worked with the Saints by reducing his salary this year to benefit us on the cap, he didn't need to do that because he was already guaranteed the $6.5m even if we cut him.

I can see him waiting until 2025 to retire, if he goes on IR this year he can collect the rest of his $1.21m in guaranteed pay before calling it a career.

 

[SweetT]

Do we really think he’s playing this year? I don’t think so

 

[2009ring]

The man balled out for us as long as his body would allow him to. If he hangs it up he has my gratitude as a fan and a sincere wish for a great life after retirement.

 

[soggymoss84]

Looking at the cap, we are best set to carry Ram this season since his entire cap hit is already on the books.

If he retires post June then we only save 1 million, have 11 million in dead cap and 23 million dead next season.

If he waits until next offseason and retires post june 1 we could lower his salary to vet minimum before then which saves 16 million in cap space immediately, then after retirement the dead money would only be 11 million in 2025 and 12 million in 2026

 

[sammymvpknight]

poor decision making gave him his second contract. His knee was screwed then. Should have let him walk for a comp pick

The guy was unbelievably productive. But I will say this much, the Saints have been pretty bad at injury prevention, injury assessment, and analytics. They’ve done very well in regards to internal medicine evaluations (see the cancer diagnoses), but I question if a better training team/analytics team would have known that his knee was a ticking time bomb.

 

[MG3n2K5]

If Ram retires in 4 weeks after June 1, his dead money will be 12M. His dead money decreases from 23M to 12M after June 1 this year. A couple extensions for AK and TH can cover that so it won’t eat up all of the current cap space. Ram’s 2025 cap hit is 29M and dead money will be 23M if he retires next year. The restructure and dead money will be higher in 2025-2026. It’d be better for the cap if he retires this year in June.

The way I see it.
Retires Now:
Cap hit increases from 12.29 million to 35.36 million. A 23.07 million increase in his cap cost.
Saints would need to create a lot of space to get under the cap. No future cap hits.
Retire After June 1st:
Cap hit this year stays exactly the same.
Dead Money cap hit 2025 of 23.07 million. A cap savings of 6.02 million.
Retire After June 1st next year:
Cap hit this year stays exactly the same.
Dead Money cap hit 2025 of 11.08 million + 1.2 million base salary (this goes away after June 1st.). Cap savings of 18 million.
Dead Money cap hit 2026 of 11.98 million. No future cap hits