4 Saints who should not be part of much-needed rebuild starting in 2025

It feels like a long time ago that the New Orleans Saints started this season 2-0 and outscored their opponents 91-29, and if we're being honest it was. A seven-game losing streak followed, and the two-game winning streak after Dennis Allen was fired and Darren Rizzi became interim head coach has quickly faded to the low-point of a 25-10 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

Since Drew Brees retired after the 2020 season, the Saints have been in the mediocre middle ground no team should want to be in (9-8 in 2021, 7-10 in 2022, 9-8 in 2023). They will at best be 6-11 this season, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be playing to win in Week 18.

As of Monday morning, via Tankathon, the Saints would have the 10th-overall pick in April's draft. A loss next Sunday would practically guarantee they stay in the top-10, and there's a possible path to getting a few spots higher.

There are a few simple realities in life. Death, taxes, and the Saints being way over the projected salary cap looking toward an offseason. Via Over The Cap, they are currently $63.7 million over the 2025 salary cap and no other team is more than $17.5 million over it.

So in some sense, a rebuild will be difficult to go all the way in on this offseason. General manager Mickey Loomis seems to be immune from being held accountable by ownership, and it's fair to assume he won't want to guide a true tear-down of the roster he built.

Getting down to it, the Saints' rebuild won't be a one-year project. But the 2025 offseason can be a notable start to the process, with easier decisions to come afterward.

With that in mind, these players should not be part of the much-needed rebuild in New Orleans come 2025.

4. RB Jamaal Williams has no use on this Saints roster

Williams may think the Detroit Lions disrespected him in 2023 free agency, but over two seasons in New Orleans the brass in Detroit has been proven totally right. Last season (309 yards and one touchdown over 13 games) was bad, but this season has been worse (40 carries for 149 yards) with his most notable role returning kickoffs even as Alvin Kamara has missed time.

Williams will turn 30 in April, Next year is the final year of his contract, and a post-June 1 cut is better for cap savings/dead money purposes. But there's no reason for the Saints to keep Williams around, as they look to reshape the roster as much as possible and ostensibly get younger.

3. OT Ryan Ramczyk is on the outs in New Orleans

This one may take care of itself. Ramczyk spent this season on the PUP list due to a cartilage issue in his knee, and he should be considering retirement. Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap, as part of a broader look at the Saints' salary cap situation, laid out the financial gymnastics that would be most ideal for the Saints.

"The team needs to begin identifying players who will potentially retire. Ramczyk will be at the top of that list. The team will negotiate a new contract with him that takes his salary down to $1.255 million and reduces his cap charge by $16.745 million. This will let the Saints carry him on the roster until June 2nd at which point they will release him from his contract. By waiting until June the team will have a dead money charge of $11.1 million plus any injury benefit he is eligible for rather than the $23 million dead money charge that would come with a March release. They will be left with $12 million dead in 2025."

A $29 million cap hit for an injured player who's in line to retire is not easy to navigate. But the Saints can navigate it to reduce the financial pain as much as possible, which overall is a win due to circumstances beyond anyone's control.

2. DE Cameron Jordan is a legend, but best days are behind him

Jordan has spent his entire 14-year career with the Saints. He's not as good as he once was at 35 years old, but he has four sacks this season and he has missed just two games in his entire career.

Next year is the final year of Jordan's contract, and he has said he plans to play. Any move before June 1 looks like a dead end, but the Saints can clear $11 million in cap space by making him a post-June 1 cut and a trade that became official after June 1 (such as another team would play ball there) would clear $12.5 million in cap space.

If Jordan decided to retire, as outlined by Fitzgerald, the Saints can make his $20 million cap charge for 2025 much more palatable in terms of dead money in 2025 and 2026.

If Jordan wants to play next season and have a chance to win a ring, New Orleans is not the place he can do it. So a mutual understanding in that regard is possible here, however it has to be made to work, and the Saints should do Jordan a favor by letting him go finish his career elsewhere.

1. QB Derek Carr shouldn't be the QB of the future

There is a case for the Saints to keep Carr until they are better-situated around the quarterback, and when he's played this season (Sunday was his sixth missed game) he hasn't played badly. But they seem to be preparing for the possibility they'll part ways this offseason.

Carr is due to make $40 million in 2025. $10 million of that is fully guaranteed, and $30 million of that is guaranteed for injury. He's currently dealing with a left hand injury, and if he can't pass a physical by the date the injury guarantee becomes a full guarantee (looks like March 17) the Saints are on the hook for the $30 million.

Healthy enough or not, it seems unlikely Carr will play in the regular season finale against the Buccaneers. The decision should be out of his hands anyway, despite any protest he might have or how healthy he is.

Carr is having something of a repeat of the end of his time with the Raiders, when they benched him late in the 2022 season in order to avoid similar implications of big money guaranteed for injury. That alone may have him ready to fight the Saints over the $30 million.

There would be some gymnastics to do, with a contract restructure and designation as a post-June 1 cut firmly in play (as Fitzgerald outlined), and there will be dead money in 2026, 2027 and 2028 no matter what. Maybe someone would trade for him. But keeping Carr around is a commitment by the Saints to winning 6-9 games every year until further notice, and they cannot stay on that path.