The New Orleans Saints freed up a ton of salary cap space by releasing Larry Warford earlier this month, but so far they’ve only used it to pick up free agents on one-year deals, at near-veteran’s minimum salary.
Names like Margus Hunt, Ty Montgomery, Anthony Chickillo, and James Hurst may not move the needle, but their impact could be felt in training camp later this summer. Having players with their NFL experience rounding out your roster instead of a crowd of undrafted rookies speaks volumes about the quality of this year’s Saints depth chart.
But at some point New Orleans is going to dig deep into their pockets and start planning for the future. That’s what they did last year by getting a jump on looming free agents like Wil Lutz, Cameron Jordan, and Michael Thomas. The Saints correctly identified each of those players as critical pieces to the locker room and rewarded them with new deals well ahead of schedule.
Here are several big names the Saints should consider, with projected contract extensions. Because this new money will be flowing in on top of preexisting deals, the Saints will have the option to restructure current-year cap hits and create more spending-room as they go along. It’s a tactic they’ve used often before.
And with even more lucrative contracts on the way for Marshon Lattimore and Ryan Ramczyk (who each had their fifth-year options picked up as soon as the Saints were allowed to do so), getting these deals inked now lets the Saints know exactly what they have to work with in the future. It’s like ordering a drink before choosing your steak.
Demario Davis
2020 salary cap hit: $9.9 million
Projected contract: Three years, $37.5 million with $25 million guaranteed
Davis has beaten all expectations after signing with the Saints a few years ago, rebounding from a couple of so-so years with the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets to immediately earn the nod as team captain in New Orleans. He then played his way onto the Associated Press All-Pro list, and has made an even bigger impact off the field as an advocate for social justice.
Now that he’s entering the final year of his contract, it’s time for the Saints to keep their best defensive player not named Cameron Jordan in the fold. Davis is 31, and has enjoyed his young family’s relative proximity to his hometown of Brandon, Miss. He should be open to re-upping with the Saints to finish his playing career in New Orleans.
A $12.5 million annual salary would rank seventh-best among NFL inside linebackers, just behind Dallas Cowboys phenom Jaylon Smith ($12.75 million), though it doesn’t compare to the top tier of contracts belonging to Bobby Wagner ($18 million) and C.J. Mosley ($17 million). Over The Cap dove deeper into how this would be fair compensation for Davis.
Alvin Kamara
2020 salary cap hit: $2.37 million
Projected contract: Three years, $37 million with $22.57 million guaranteed
We went into greater detail on Kamara’s situation earlier this offseason, in the wake of Christian McCaffrey’s blockbuster deal with the Carolina Panthers, which Kamara was pleased to see. But we’ll reexamine some of the major points from that article now that the draft is behind us. The Saints did not end up drafting a rookie running back, even if they reportedly considered Wisconsin superstar Jonathan Taylor (now a member of the Indianapolis Colts).
It’s possible that Kamara would laugh off this sort of offer from the Saints. His peers are easily outpacing the proposed $12.3 million salary, with other franchise faces like McCaffrey ($16 million), Ezekiel Elliott ($15 million), and Le’veon Bell ($13.12 million) each pulling in monster deals. But there’s a few cautionary tales here for both Kamara and the Saints to consider.
The next-best contract belongs to David Johnson ($13 million), who was traded to the Houston Texans after injuries cut his Arizona Cardinals career short. Bell could be in a similar tough spot with the Jets. After that top tier, each of the following runners (Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake) are playing on one-year franchise and transition tags, valued at $10.27 and $8.48 million, respectively. No other NFL running backs are earning double-digit salaries.
If Kamara turns down a multiyear offer from the Saints, they can apply the 2021 franchise tag, and he’ll be both underpaid and lack long-term security. Taking a series of short-term deals featuring heavy guarantees might be the best path forward for him and many other young talents, unless they can prove to handle a three-down workload like McCaffrey or Elliott.
Marcus Williams
2020 salary cap hit: $1.98 million
Projected contract: Four years, $56 million with $22.5 million guaranteed
Don’t get caught up in the few poor decisions Williams has made in big moments: he’s a great coverage player for the Saints, regularly making the right call and shading towards the correct route combinations in heated games. He’s also been the only consistent playmaker in the secondary, being the only Saints defensive back to pick off multiple throws last season. No other Saints defender intercepted more passes from 2010 to 2019 than Williams (who bagged 10 of them since being drafted in 2017).
Safeties like Williams, who can line up in a single-high alignment and patrol the width of the field, reel in big salaries. Just look at Eddie Jackson ($14.6 million), Kevin Byard ($14.1 million), Tyrann Mathieu ($14 million), and Earl Thomas ($13.75 million). Of the players just listed, only Byard has intercepted more passes since 2017 than Williams (tied with Jackson). Williams is definitely going to make more on his second NFL contract than his former teammate Vonn Bell, who is pulling in $6 million a year from the Cincinnati Bengals.
The question is how much the Saints can save by signing Williams to a new deal sooner than later. Two other big-time free safeties, Anthony Harris and Justin Simmons, are each playing on the 2020 franchise tag (valued at $11.44 million) while working on long-term deals with their teams, and their pay raises should raise Williams’ asking-price. If the Saints value Williams as a fixture of their organization, and they should, the clock might be ticking on how much they can budget for him.
