3 tough salary cap decisions New Orleans Saints face in 2021
The New Orleans Saints were all-in for this year, and now they have some tough salary cap decisions for 2021.
Amid early hints from head coach Sean Payton that this would be Drew Brees’ last year, the New Orleans Saints were clearly all-in for 2020. On Sunday, before the Saints lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported Brees would indeed retire when the postseason run ended. Based on the scene on the Superdome field after the game, Brees may indeed be ready to call it a career.
Leaving aside the idea of having to replace Brees, the Saints are in salary cap purgatory for 2021. Via Over the Cap, or Spotrac, they are at least $95 million in the red. There’s a price you sometimes pay to be all-in with an aging quarterback, but the piper is ready for the Saints to pay him now.
Brees signed a two-year, $50 million deal with the Saints last March. But they tacked on what amounts to two “void” or “dummy” years, to spread a $23 million signing bonus over four years instead of two. He would carry a $36.15 million cap hit for 2021 if he plays, and if he retires the Saints would keep a $22.65 million dead money hit and clear $13.5 million.
Regardless of Brees’ status, the Saints have a lot of work to do to get close to, let alone in compliance with, a lower salary cap in 2021. Here are three tough decisions they’ll have to make over the next few months.
3 tough salary cap decisions for the New Orleans Saints in 2021
3. Cut Malcom Brown?
After the New England Patriots didn’t pick up an option on him, the Saints signed Brown to a three-year, $15 million deal in March of 2019 He started all 13 games he played this season, registering 27 total tackles (three tackles for loss) and one sack as a cog in the Saints’ No. 4 run defense.
But Brown also played just one-third of the Saints’ defensive snaps during the regular season, followed by 41 percent and 36 percent snap rates in the two playoff games. He’s a space eater in the middle who doesn’t offer a lot as a pass rusher, and the Saints are set to carry a $6.5 million cap hit on him in 2021.
By cutting Brown, the Saints can clear $5 million of that cap hit while absorbing $1.5 million in dead money (prorated signing bonus). A restructure would be an option, but that may involve a contract extension. Cutting Brown looks like the easier move.