5 potential New Orleans Saints cap-saving strategies in 2017 (1 Viewer)

Slaw

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I don't like cutting Ellerbe or Byrd.. let's just hope we can upgrade through the draft. I'm all for spending every penny we can in FA but I don't want us to keep kicking the can down the road as far as money on contracts go. I pray for no drastic restructures. I don't think Ellerbe or Byrd will be willing to take a pay cut.. I just hope they can stay healthy, and provide a good leadership presence without their performance declining too badly.

I hope we can land Ingram for 13-14m per year, maybe Zeitler for 10m. Then let's hope we can supplement through the draft at CB, LB, DE. It's a good year for those positions!
 
I would love to see a Byrd pay cut, Armstead Restructure, and Vaccaro and Morestead extensions in the next couple of weeks.
 
what incentive would Byrd have to agree to a pay cut? If the saints release him, they are going to take a hit on the salary cap.
 
what incentive would Byrd have to agree to a pay cut? If the saints release him, they are going to take a hit on the salary cap.

We could designate him a June 1 cut and he only gets 3.4M. Doubt he would get much as a FA. He could take a pay cut and possibly come away with more.

I would offer him 3.4M + whatever his market value is (2-3M?), to stay on the team. Would save us around 5-6M. Seems like a win-win.

Edit: I honestly don't know if that's exactly what we should offer. May be better to eat the 3.4M and let him go, to be off the hook for the remaining years on his contract. We definitely can't pay him 11M this year. That would be nuts IMO.

Making Byrd a June 1 cut saves 7.8M, but we wouldn't get it until after free agency. Plus we lose Byrd. The pay cut will give us more to spend on free agents this year while also keeping Byrd.
 
I don't like cutting Ellerbe or Byrd.. let's just hope we can upgrade through the draft. I'm all for spending every penny we can in FA but I don't want us to keep kicking the can down the road as far as money on contracts go. I pray for no drastic restructures. I don't think Ellerbe or Byrd will be willing to take a pay cut.. I just hope they can stay healthy, and provide a good leadership presence without their performance declining too badly.

I hope we can land Ingram for 13-14m per year, maybe Zeitler for 10m. Then let's hope we can supplement through the draft at CB, LB, DE. It's a good year for those positions!

Here's the thing... for every guy you cut, you'll need a replacement. If we cut Ellerby, can we find an equal replacement for $2.5 million... I don't think so.

If we cut Byrd, can we find an equal replacement for $9million? I think they ABSOLUTELY could...

I think you should look to upgrade Elerby but I see no real reason to cut him. You just don't want to rely on him
 
I wonder if they would go after Eric Berry. Sign him to a contract similar to Byrd's, with very little going against the cap year 1. Then make Byrd a June 1 cut and use the savings to pay Berry. I actually like that idea if Berry would come to NO. Basically trading Byrd for Berry.

Byrd's remaining contract:
2017: 11.7M
2018: 12.2M
2019: 10.2M
 
We could designate him a June 1 cut and he only gets 3.4M. Doubt he would get much as a FA. He could take a pay cut and possibly come away with more.

I would offer him 3.4M + whatever his market value is (2-3M?), to stay on the team. Would save us around 5-6M. Seems like a win-win.

Edit: I honestly don't know if that's exactly what we should offer. May be better to eat the 3.4M and let him go, to be off the hook for the remaining years on his contract. We definitely can't pay him 11M this year. That would be nuts IMO.

Making Byrd a June 1 cut saves 7.8M, but we wouldn't get it until after free agency. Plus we lose Byrd. The pay cut will give us more to spend on free agents this year while also keeping Byrd.

No, he would not get only 3.4 million. He still would get all the guaranteed money he has only his cap hit would be spread by this year and the next.

You have to look at the money the saints would save by just cutting him. That's about 3 million. So the saints would only save like 2 million in a Byrd pay cut because if they cut him.he could sign with other team for at least vet minimum.
 
Here's the thing... for every guy you cut, you'll need a replacement. If we cut Ellerby, can we find an equal replacement for $2.5 million... I don't think so.

If we cut Byrd, can we find an equal replacement for $9million? I think they ABSOLUTELY could...

I think you should look to upgrade Elerby but I see no real reason to cut him. You just don't want to rely on him
But the saints will not save $9 million by cutting Byrd.
 
No, he would not get only 3.4 million. He still would get all the guaranteed money he has only his cap hit would be spread by this year and the next.

You have to look at the money the saints would save by just cutting him. That's about 3 million. So the saints would only save like 2 million in a Byrd pay cut because if they cut him.he could sign with other team for at least vet minimum.

If we designate him a post June 1 cut, we get a cap savings of 7.8M with 3.4M in dead money. Where are you getting that we only save 3M by cutting Byrd? If Byrd plays out his contract, we would pay 34.1M. Surely we won't still be on the hook for 31M...

This is what we would save each year by making Byrd a June 1 cut:

2017:
Cap Hit: 11.7M
Dead Money: 3.4M
Cap Savings: 8.3M

2018:
Cap Hit: 12.2M
Dead Money: 3.4M
Cap Savings: 8.8M

2019
Cap Hit: 10.2M
Dead Money: 1.2M
Cap Savings: 9M

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
 
We don't need to make these kinds of moves. These kinds of move don't get rid of money; they push it forward into future years. It makes more sense to absorb that money this year, when we're able to do so comfortably.
 
I'm not trying to pretend to be a salary cap expert. I would appreciate it if someone with more knowledge on all of this would chime in.
 
If we designate him a post June 1 cut, we get a cap savings of 7.8M with 3.4M in dead money. Where are you getting that we only save 3M by cutting Byrd? If Byrd plays out his contract, we would pay 34.1M. Surely we won't still be on the hook for 31M...

This is what we would save each year by making Byrd a June 1 cut:

2017:
Cap Hit: 11.7M
Dead Money: 3.4M
Cap Savings: 8.3M

2018:
Cap Hit: 12.2M
Dead Money: 3.4M
Cap Savings: 8.8M

2019
Cap Hit: 10.2M
Dead Money: 1.2M
Cap Savings: 9M

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

June 1st cuts spread over two seasons. Byrd's 2017 dead number would be 3.4m, and his 2018 dead number would be 4.6m. We'd then gain little over 7.5m this year, and 7.1m next year. Ish.
 
June 1st cuts spread over two seasons. Byrd's 2017 dead number would be 3.4m, and his 2018 dead number would be 4.6m. We'd then gain little over 7.5m this year, and 7.1m next year. Ish.

Ahh ok. I knew it was more than 3M savings. For some reason I was thinking it got divided up over the remaining years of the contract. But this year and next definitely sounds right.
 

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