NFL sets 2017 salary cap at $167 million; Saints have $30.86 million in available cap space (1 Viewer)

[St.Dan]

35m for Loomis to Loomis?!?!?!

Might as well be 200m, lol!

Seriously though, that's a good number to make 1 really nice siging (looking like CB at this point) and then fill in really well with nice, solid guys at LB, RG, & early down WDE. We may very well come out of this off season as a VERY complete team top to bottom, with the only real "issue" being our early down pass rush.

With Drew Brees at the helm, I can live with that.

Hence Barnett or the best edge rusher still there in round 1.

 

[Slaw]

With Claiborne, he's almost certainly going to simply go back to the Cowboys.

They finally got some semblance of a return from what looked like a total bust the first 4 years. Now he's their starting LCB.

I'm just scared of spending big on Bouye, Gilmore, or Ryan. Maybe that's the way to go though.

 

[Pdlc]

I'm just scared of spending big on Bouye, Gilmore, or Ryan. Maybe that's the way to go though.

Due to our interest in Norman last year I think we will spend on a CB day 1.

 

[BreesusSaves]

1 year deal is what I'm thinking. Just like we did with Fairley, except without his salary spread out over multiple years. If he works out, we re-sign him. If not, that's $6m in our pocket for next offseason.

Except Fairley's prove-it deal was based on an injury history and questionable motivation. His actual talent and ability to be an impact player on a defense was not the issue.

Claiborne has four absolutely horrendous seasons and one decent one. You just don't give $6m/yr, even on a one year deal to those kinds of guys. People talk about being like New England, well New England isn't giving those kinds of guys $6m/yr.

 

[Slaw]

Except Fairley's prove-it deal was based on an injury history and questionable motivation. His actual talent and ability to be an impact player on a defense was not the issue.

Claiborne has four absolutely horrendous seasons and one decent one. You just don't give $6m/yr, even on a one year deal to those kinds of guys. People talk about being like New England, well New England isn't giving those kinds of guys $6m/yr.

So which corner do you want to sign and for how much?

 

[Igordão]

What about Dre Kirkpatrick?

 

[BreesusSaves]

So which corner do you want to sign and for how much?

Me personally? I'm not sold on the FA Corners available. I'd rather re-sign Fairley as long as it's not a ridiculously high contract, beef up the right side of the offensive line with another Guard and Tackle, and aim to sign a guy like Zach Brown at LB. Depending on the money left, try to "Loomis" in a S like Micah Hyde.

Then in the draft, target DE and CB, then LB depending on who falls where. This is a great draft for CB and DE, and with the guys who have been franchise tagged, I feel safer drafting a couple of CBs for Dennis Allen and Aaron Glenn than overpaying for average CBs and breaking the bank for the handful of good to elite CBs.

 

[OutlawSaint]

G Larry Warford $9m
LB Zach Brown $7m
CB Morris Claiborne $6m
S Micah Hyde $5m

Total $27m

You could backload some of those and sign more people. The window is 2-3 years so win now mode is a must!

 

[superchuck500]

If we have $35m, would $5m cover the draft and UDFA? Leaving us around $30m for free agency?

According to the Over the Cap site, our rookie pool number is $6.2M (subject to change based on compensatory). But "effective cap needed" might actually be just under $3M if I read that right.

NFL Draft Resources and Contract Estimates

 

[Bartyboy]

Have to agree with BreesusSaves here.
Draft is weak in O-line strong on CB and DE.
FA O-line. Draft D.

 

[longtime lurker]

You could backload some of those and sign more people. The window is 2-3 years so win now mode is a must!

I was thinking the same. The Saints could do a whole lot with that and adjusting current contracts.

 

[Optimistic Ozzy]

We will restructure some of our contracts into signing bonuses and free up another 6-7 million if need be.

 

[Brees2Graham4Six!]

Except Fairley's prove-it deal was based on an injury history and questionable motivation. His actual talent and ability to be an impact player on a defense was not the issue.

Claiborne has four absolutely horrendous seasons and one decent one. You just don't give $6m/yr, even on a one year deal to those kinds of guys. People talk about being like New England, well New England isn't giving those kinds of guys $6m/yr.

I would agree with you in the old market, but in the new FA market where the Browns have $100 million and many other teams with over $40-60 million in cap space, an injury prone potential starting caliber corner would likely garner about $6 million.

I think this site is drastically underestimating expected salaries for potential starters. There is so much more money than starting caliber salaries, so solid starters are going to likely get $7-8 million at minimum. Good starters like warford and zeitler will probably get $8-10 million. Buoye and Gilmore will probably get about $12ish million.

Either teams are going to exhaust their money on oversized contracts for solid starters or they are going to use up the rest on richer than normal 1 year deals to wait things out until the market balances out. $27 million in this FA market is not a ton unfortunately.

 

[Eeyore]

It'll be difficult to compete with the likes of Cleveland which has over $100,000,000 in cap space and other teams like the 49'ers and Jaguars which each have over $70,000,000 and Tampa Bay and Tennessee which each has over $60,000,000.

 

[Eeyore]

I would agree with you in the old market, but in the new FA market where the Browns have $100 million and many other teams with over $40-60 million in cap space, an injury prone potential starting caliber corner would likely garner about $6 million.

I think this site is drastically underestimating expected salaries for potential starters. There is so much more money than starting caliber salaries, so solid starters are going to likely get $7-8 million at minimum. Good starters like warford and zeitler will probably get $8-10 million. Buoye and Gilmore will probably get about $12ish million.

Either teams are going to exhaust their money on oversized contracts for solid starters or they are going to use up the rest on richer than normal 1 year deals to wait things out until the market balances out. $27 million in this FA market is not a ton unfortunately.

You beat me to it.