Malcolm Jenkins is down with signing Ed Reed

New Orleans Saints

Top priority in free agency: Safety.
Other areas of interest: Defensive line, offensive tackle, linebacker.
Potential fits: A new salary cap with an additional $10 million. Just kidding. S Rashad Johnson, DL Cullen Jenkins, LB Victor Butler.

The Saints are over the cap. And they're probably completely over Accounting 101. We all hated that class, let's be honest. You could teach an entire college course on accounting with the Saints' 2013 offseason as a semester-long case study. The front office has worked overtime trying to pare down a cap number that was more than $20 million too high just a few weeks ago. They've cut players, restructured several deals and are trying to get Will Smith and Jonathan Vilma to essentially cost the club less money. Safety is the biggest positional issue. Roman Harper often found himself out of position in 2012, and his cap figure is out of kilter in 2013. At seven million bucks (base plus prorated signing bonus), that's just too much for a guy north of 30 and perhaps headed south in terms of effectiveness. He's been a solid player mostly, but the Saints just can't afford the cost per production.