I think it is a twofold situation with Loomis and Payton, with Loomis deserving 99% of the blame.
The Saints cap was a disaster when Payton left.
Three years later, the Saints cap is still a disaster and only this past spring has Loomis been willing to acknowledge that.
Loomis could have started walking the cap down in 2022 or 2023. Instead he hands out an extension to Cam Jordan whose decline has begun and signs Carr. While Carr's APY is not an overpay, he and Cam together currently consume $71,519,000 of 2025's cap space.
Had Loomis not done creative accounting to get Carr and not extended Cam, we'd already be at the end of the tunnel. Instead we're still searching for that light at the end.