The NFL informed teams today that the 2023 salary cap will be a record $224.8 million per club, sources tell me and @RapSheet.
Buy Saints TicketsThat’s up from $208.2 million in 2022, $182.5M in 2021 (COVID adjustment), 198.2M in 2020 and $188.2M in 2019.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 30, 2023
Good news, everyone: the NFL told teams Monday that it has set the 2023 salary cap per team at $224.8 million, which is great for the New Orleans Saints. New Orleans currently has a staggering $281.9 million in cap commitments for the 2023 season, which means they must clear more than $57.1 million to reach cap compliance before the start of the new league year on March 14. No team is over the cap by a wider margin than the Saints.
That’s easier said than done, but we’ve seen New Orleans work around the cap well before, and they’ll get there again. It’s going to be another busy offseason for their salary cap specialist Khai Harley and general manager Mickey Loomis as they navigate contract situations with many players and we should anticipate restructures, releases, and a couple of creative extensions to reach the finish line.
Some obvious moves that jump out at you from their accounting sheet: restructures with cornerstone players like Marshon Lattimore (saving over $10 million), Ryan Ramczyk ($9.6 million), and Erik McCoy ($8 million) will be easy enough and cut into that negative cap figure. Parting ways with Jameis Winston and Wil Lutz brings $8.1 million in savings. Releasing Michael Thomas and Andrus Peat with post-June 1 designations frees up another $12.9 million later in the summer, but that’s well after free agency’s busiest signing period and the 2023 draft, so it isn’t quite as helpful.
Still, those moves leave the Saints in the red by about $21.4 million before the March deadline. They clearly have more work to do than we’ve mused on here. So watch this space in the weeks ahead as roster moves and salary cap maneuvers trickle in.
