The NFL finally approved the New Orleans Saints’ contract with free agent center Nick Easton, making details on the contract’s structure and salary cap hits public. Josh Katzenstein of the Times-Picayune first reported the details.
Easton’s contract structure is intriguing. While he signed a four-year deal through the 2022 season, only $4 million of its total $22.5 million value is guaranteed. And that entire $4 million is on the books in 2019. What that means is the Saints will have the option to release Easton from this contract at any time after the 2019 season, with little to no financial penalty against the salary cap.
This is a big win from the team’s perspective. They signed someone who they believe can be a starting-quality center but, if things go wrong (due to subpar performance or continued problems from Easton’s 2018 neck injury), they can hit eject at any point after March 2020. Considering how close the Saints work against the salary cap, this gives them rare flexibility.
From Easton’s point of view, he sacrifices long-term stability for $4 million, which honestly isn’t a bad tradeoff. We don’t know what other teams were offering, though it was reported that the Minnesota Vikings and another team tried to sign him during his free agency. It’s possible that no other team offered him as much guaranteed money as the Saints. New Orleans could also have been the only team presenting him with a starting job. Those are unknown factors in Easton’s decision.
Either way, at this point he’s a member of the Saints. He’s also the favorite to replace Max Unger in the starting lineup at center, though backups Cameron Tom and Will Clapp promise to challenge him. And if either of them ends up displacing Easton, well, the Saints can get out of his contract easily enough.
