The New Orleans Saints finally added a good punt returner in Marcus Sherels, a defensive back who started his career with the Minnesota Vikings. But Sherels picked the Saints over the Vikings and a handful of other teams because he wanted to win a Super Bowl. And it turns out that he signed with New Orleans on a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum. Contract details for Sherels were first reported by Josh Katzenstein of the Times-Picayune.
Per Katzenstein’s report, Sherels was given a $90,000 signing bonus and a base salary of just $930,000. That qualifies him for the veteran’s minimum salary benefit, meaning his salary cap hit is just $735,000. That’s quite the bargain for a player who was better than anyone the Saints had on their roster last year.
Sherels logged 276 punt return yards on 23 attempts (12.0 yards per return) in 2019. As a team, the Saints combined for just 157 yards on 24 attempts (only 6.5 yards per return). The Saints are nearly doubling the yards gained per-return by adding Sherels, at least on paper. He’ll be a great weapon for new special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, who also returns every other cornerstone on the punt and kickoff units — guys like Thomas Morstead, Wil Lutz, Taysom Hill, Chris Banjo, and Craig Robertson.
