Saints Cap Moves: Derek Carr restructured, Erik McCoy restructured; J. Williams released; cap space is at -$8,543,537 (129 Viewers)

[BoNcHiE]

Not really. The cap looks better at a glance, but we have 15 less players under contract in 2026 that we do in 2025 that'll need to be replaced next year and Carr's cap number just ballooned to $69 million to keep and $60m in dead money to cut. Many of those players that'll be gone are starters.

Not all those 15 are starters. Most aren't.

And you've got two drafts to fill out your depth without having to go crazy with the spending in 2026.

 

[Tulsa Saint]

Do you think taking a $69 million cap hit in 2026, for Derek Carr, is the epitome of the Saints “taking their medicine and go bargain binning until cap healthy?” This is the complete opposite of that. And like Taker597 said, the roster on this team will now very likely be worse next year than this year.

So what exactly do you do? Restructure every single veteran to accommodate carrs departure this year? That’d be really “kicking the can”

Have barely any money for even draft picks?

None of you are putting up a compelling plan here. You’re just yelling and despairing over what you knew two weeks ago.

 

[Silly Burrito]

How did he do that exactly?

I get it, we're a bit slightly better in theory next year moving the cap hit to then but you know we're going to still use the cap up to the tip top. I just wanted to rip the bandaid off this year. It's not logical, it's not the best play, I'm just ready for a new QB.

 

[BoNcHiE]

Carr is 14-13 as a starter.

I get the hate because he feels like his ceiling is what it is, but "dark days?" Come on. I'm not gonna blame our new HC for wanting a decent QB to work with. That this also made the most financial sense makes it an easy decision.

 

[soggymoss84]

Interesting that Carr was pushing to be cut/traded but Moore wanted to keep him.

 

[Taker597]

Not all those 15 are starters. Most aren't.

And you've got two drafts to fill out your depth without having to go crazy with the spending in 2026.

We been avging like 1.5 starter since 2017... I don't know about that.

 

[Silly Burrito]

Interesting that Carr was pushing to be cut/traded but Moore wanted to keep him.

Every time Carr messes up, Moore is going to remind him of that 50-3 Boise State/Fresno State game.

 

[Elvis]

Not all those 15 are starters. Most aren't.

And you've got two drafts to fill out your depth without having to go crazy with the spending in 2026.

We'll have 8 starters left from 2025, including Carr. We'll obviously have new ones, but they'll cost money too.

Carr is 14-13 as a starter.

I get the hate because he feels like his ceiling is what it is, but "dark days?" Come on. I'm not gonna blame our new HC for wanting a decent QB to work with. That this also made the most financial sense makes it an easy decision.

Carr is 77-92 as a starter and 0-1 in the playoffs.

 

[BlackNGoldblood]

So what exactly do you do? Restructure every single veteran to accommodate carrs departure this year? That’d be really “kicking the can”

Have barely any money for even draft picks?

None of you are putting up a compelling plan here. You’re just yelling and despairing over what you knew two weeks ago.

You make a good point about who the Saints would have to restructure to field a team this year. And I’m not well-versed on the financials of those particular players. Still, I didn’t want it to go down this way. Certainly, we would have made do this year without Carr, and not have to kick the can on too many players we don’t value.

 

[Taker597]

So what exactly do you do? Restructure every single veteran to accommodate carrs departure this year? That’d be really “kicking the can”

Have barely any money for even draft picks?

None of you are putting up a compelling plan here. You’re just yelling and despairing over what you knew two weeks ago.

The plan would of of been pay Carr like $5 million to void out his contract and give us $25 million in cap space to be a free agent.

Triplet mentioned of an opportunity to mutually part ways and that the only avenue that makes sense for both parties..

 

[B4YOU]

Moore will have to eat 60M dead cap over 2026 and 2027 because DA and ML overpaid Carr by about 25M. We are a team that signs terrible contracts.

 

[Taker597]

 

[St. Widge]

Yeah, they will designate him a post June 1 cut and split the dead cap hit $30 million each for 2026 and 2027.

 

[jboss]

Will definitely be designated post 6/1. So half of that will hit the cap in 2026, half in 2027.

This was always the most likely scenario.

Finally some common sense. If we cut him post 6/1 this year wed have had to restructure almost every single contract adding void years to a bunch of 35 yr olds

I really don't know how anyone can be so confident this was done just to cut him. Not a single thing about this has suggested that. Carr's starting every game he's available in 2025.

 

[St. Geezy]

You make a good point about who the Saints would have to restructure to field a team this year. And I’m not well-versed on the financials of those particular players. Still, I didn’t want it to go down this way. Certainly, we would have made do this year without Carr, and not have to kick the can on too many players we don’t value.

Yes, we most certainly would have, and that would have been just to merely achieve cap compliance.

Without this move, you’re basically sitting out free agency and are kicking the can with every other restructurable contract on the roster just to field a team and have a rookie draft pool.

Maybe you can swap out a few bottom of the roster guys with minimum salary free agents, but that’s about it.

This move was effectively a must.