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By Matthew Beighle | Whodatdish

The New Orleans Saints may have just released Nick Easton, but they view the offensive lineman’s value high enough to potentially re-sign him.

While it may be an odd situation, the Saints are one of the four teams that have had preliminary discussions” with guard Nick Easton.

The team recently released Easton, saving about $6 million in cap space. It should be understood that, while it’d be a seven-figure contract for Easton, he wouldn’t return for as much as he would’ve made had he not been released.

ESPN’s Josina Anderson was the one to report that the Saints have an interest in bringing their former guard back. While he noted that four teams were interested, she didn’t say which other three were involved in the talks. ...

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By John Sigler | Saintswire

It’s been a while since the New Orleans Saints have used the franchise tag to lock in a pending free agent. They’ve issued it just three times since 2007: on defensive end Charles Grant; again in 2012, on quarterback Drew Brees; and most infamously in 2014, for tight end Jimmy Graham (whose position was defined during a dramatic arbitration hearing). Feb. 23 marks the opening of the franchise tag window, which closes March 9.

The Saints have run tight against the salary cap in the years since and, frankly, haven’t had many free agents worth issuing the franchise tag to. But circumstances are different in 2021. Several key defenders are set to hit the market, losses which would be tough for New Orleans to recover from — it sure feels like either the team’s sack leader, Trey Hendrickson, or every-down safety Marcus Williams are on the way out.

Maybe things would be different if the salary cap had continued to climb year over year, but the COVID-19 pandemic hit the NFL just like every other industry, and now the cap is depressing. It’ll go no lower than $180 million, but that’s still an $18.2 million pitfall for the Saints to overcome. While issuing the franchise tag to Hendrickson or Williams would buy some time for the Saints to negotiate a long-term deal (or use another team’s interest to set a market value for the player), the hefty, fully-guaranteed salary it brings with it might make that untenable. ...

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By John Sigler | Saintswire

The new NFL collective bargaining agreement included a fourth-year proven performance escalator for rookie contracts, which rewards players who weren’t selected in the first round for earning more snaps over their first three years in the league. And that’s great news for New Orleans Saints wideout Tre’Quan Smith, who is set to receive a nice pay raise in 2021 after triggering the Level One escalator.

Because Smith, a 2018 third round pick, has played more than 35% of snaps in each of his first three seasons, his base salary is going to jump from $950,000 to an estimated $2,133,000; an increase of about $1.183 million. The exact amount won’t be set until the NFL establishes how much this year’s restricted free agent tenders are valued, but Smith’s salary is going to at least double based off that projection.

It also slightly raises his salary cap from $1,124,256 up to over $2.3 million. He’s in the final year of his rookie contract so that isn’t likely to get on New Orleans’ radar as a potential overspend, even if they are currently standing $68 million or so over the projected cap. They have bigger fish to fry. ...

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By John Sigler | Saintswire


Sheldon Rankins is excited for the future. The New Orleans Saints defensive tackle has seen the full spectrum of highs and lows in black and gold: dominant playoff wins and crushing losses, great personal success in the trenches and painful, season-ending injuries. With free agency on the horizon, he took a moment to look back on how he got here during an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio.

“When I first got there, to be completely honest, we were a laughing stock,” Rankins reflected. “People said, ‘Well, Drew (Brees is) going to have to outscore everybody.’ That’s pretty much how everybody looked at us.” ...

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