Let's talk salary cap

St. Geezy said

BREAKING NEWS: NFL team signs player to a 4 year $150m mega-contract with $100m in guarantees, becomes stuck with him for at least three seasons, faces potential severe cap complications for releasing him before end of contract. 😱

(We’ll just conveniently ignore the fact that said cap strategy enabled us to sign the highest paid free agent of that off-season to said mega contract despite being nearly $100m over the cap going into that year, proving that numbers can indeed be moved when we actively choose to sign free agents).

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The Loomis/Hartley cap strategy was designed to keep a competitive roster together under Drew Brees - when year to year we were only a player or two away from staying competitive and contending.

The problem is that the Saints are seeing the negative side effects of that strategy with the lack of quality depth to fill spots.

Look at the number of quality depth we let walk in free agency - not because we didn’t want them but because we couldn’t afford them because of money tied up in prorated and protracted contracts.

Hendrickson, Anzalone, Williams, Ellis, Onyemata - just to name a few. Some of these guys may not have been in the long term plans anyway, but if you miss on a few draft picks and have to tie up a bunch of cap space for voidable year contracts, your depth really suffers.

That’s where we are today.

Talented week 1 team that got picked apart by the injury bug.