There’s no getting around it: the 2020 offseason will be difficult for the New Orleans Saints. They must navigate contract decisions with a number of important free agents, including all three quarterbacks (Drew Brees and Teddy Bridgewater will be unrestricted free agents, while Taysom Hill is designated with restricted status). With the 2020 salary cap expected to settle somewhere around $200 million, the Saints will have between $16 and $20 million to spend. That won’t be enough to keep everyone.
Some restructures should be expected; it’s a staple of the playbook built by Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and salary cap specialist Khai Hartley. But they’ll also have to consider cutting veteran players to curb costs. Here are four potential Saints salary cap casualties.
Janoris Jenkins
Potential savings: $11.25 million
The Saints claimed Jenkins off of waivers in December, inheriting the final year of his New York Giants contract in the process. That agreement carries with it a 2020 salary cap hit of $11.25 million, none of which is guaranteed — yet. Jenkins will be due a $1 million roster bonus on March 16, which would be fully-guaranteed. So the Saints could theoretically release Jenkins before that date and leave no dead money behind; doing so afterwards would leave $1 million in dead money.
That said, cutting Jenkins doesn’t make sense, but it could benefit him and the Saints to add a year or two onto his current deal to spread out the salary cap hits. He played so well in his two starts for New Orleans (ending the Week 17 game Carolina Panthers with an interception, and erasing Stefon Diggs in the the wild-card loss to the Minnesota Vikings) that he should definitely be a part of their plans for 2020.
Keeping Jenkins is even more sensible when you consider Saints cornerbacks Eli Apple and P.J. Williams will test free agency in a few months. Ironically, Apple and Jenkins were once teammates with the Giants — and the Saints declined Apple’s fifth-year option, which would have guaranteed him about $13.6 million for the 2020 season. Instead, Jenkins has taken his starting job.
Nick Easton
Potential savings: $4 million
Easton was initially signed to compete with rookie center Erik McCoy in 2019, but McCoy had that competition wrapped up by the first week of training camp. Strangely, Easton then struggled to get on the field for much of his first season in New Orleans. He took a backseat to Patrick Omameh and Will Clapp as the active backups on game days, but was the go-to guard to fill in while Andrus Peat or Larry Warford were injured. All told, he played 409 snaps in 10 games, most of them starts during Peat’s six-week absence.
Peat will be a free agent in 2020, and he shouldn’t be considered likely to return to New Orleans. There are so many bad offensive lines around the league that he should get contract offers to play either left guard or left tackle, and probably be paid handsomely for it. That opens the door for Easton to start immediately with the Saints at left guard, making his release unlikely. If the Saints did cut him, they’d still be on the hook for $1.5 million in dead money this year.
Instability along the offensive line makes the decision to keep Easton around easy, even if he ends up losing his starting gig to another rookie draft pick, should the Saints go that route. You can never have too many backups with NFL experience.
Patrick Robinson
Potential savings: $3.65 million
Robinson made nearly as many appearances on special teams (128 snaps played) as on defense (170), relegated to a backup role at one of the team’s deepest position groups. He did get on the field with the defense later in the year once injuries hit, playing 160 snaps in the last four regular season games. And he proven he can play well when tasked with running against some talented Panthers and Tennessee Titans receiving corps.
Changes are coming at cornerback for the Saints in 2020, making Robinson’s case similar to the situation with Jenkins. If either (or both of) Apple or Williams leave for greener pastures, Robinson would get bumped up the depth chart as a principle backup behind the Saints’ top-two options. He’s really played his best football when defending the slot, but that’s where breakout rookie defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson starred in 2019.
If limited to playing special teams and backing up the outside corners, there’s a chance the Saints think Robinson’s $6.15 million cap hit isn’t worth paying for. But at this stage, keeping him around feels like a no-brainer.
Mario Edwards Jr.
Potential savings: $2.765 million
The journeyman pass rusher had a good year for the Saints, nearly matching his career-high in sacks (3) at the bottom of the defensive line rotation. He lined up all over the Saints defensive front (though predominately at three-technique defensive tackle), playing 293 snaps in 14 regular season games. That ranked eighth among all defensive linemen and fourth among interior linemen, specifically.
For context, here’s how the playing-time distribution shook out for the Saints defensive line rotation, ordered in snaps played per game:
- DE Cameron Jordan, 54.8 snaps per game (16 games)
- DE Marcus Davenport, 40.9 snaps per game (13 games)
- DT David Onyemata, 37.7 snaps per game (15 games)
- DT Sheldon Rankins, 32.2 snaps per game (10 games)
- DE Trey Hendrickson, 31.1 snaps per game (13 games)
- NT Malcom Brown, 30.4 snaps per game (16 games)
- NT Taylor Stallworth, 23.3 snaps per game (4 games)
- DT Shy Tuttle, 21.3 snaps per game (16 games)
- DT Mario Edwards Jr., 20.9 snaps per game (14 games)
- DE Carl Granderson, 14.4 snaps per game (8 games)
That’s not enough to make Edwards a sure-thing to return in 2020. He will be 26 and playing in a contract year, which is plenty of motivation, but his low production and lower spot in the pecking-order is tough to justify a $3.24 million salary cap hit. The Saints can free up $2.65 million if they release him (leaving just $475,000 on the books in dead money), and it’s easy to see them taking that route should they need to pinch pennies that badly. Maybe he’d agree to a pay cut instead.
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