Saints could get to $14.61 million under the cap without restructuring Derek Carr, after Saints salary cap potentially increases by $5M

But you already said that free agency isn't the way to add talent to the team, which I agree with, so what would be the point in creating cap space this year anyway?

And, again, we haven't "maximized our available assets" for a few years now and aren't likely to do it again until we have a franchise QB.

Finally, Carr is better than Rattler, but Rattler will likely greatly improve with an offseason where as Carr is likely to stay the same or regress. And, frankly, the offense last year after all the other injuries didn't really look much better, if better at all, with Carr starting. Just look at the Giants game. The offense looked a lot like it did when Rattler took over due to the Carr injury. And it might not even be Rattler. Maybe they take a shot at Fields or Daniel Jones. Or maybe they draft a young QB that Moore likes.

I am talking about adding a key piece or two and replacing some role players, not to go on some wild $100 million spending spree.

A Mekhi Becton, a good big WR and/or tight end, a run stuffer, re-sign a Chase Young, an adequate safety is what I am talking about. Not signing a bunch of top rated free agents and then overspending on other guys just to meet minimum spend thresholds.

I don’t think it’s accurate to say we haven’t maximized. We literally just signed the league’s highest paid free agent two seasons ago (for better or for worse) at a time we had no money.