The #Saints are not picking up the fifth-year option for OL Cesar Ruiz, source said. He now heads into a contract year for New Orleans.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 1, 2023
Well that’s disappointing. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the New Orleans Saints are declining to exercise the fifth-year option for right guard Cesar Ruiz, their first-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft. He’ll now become a free agent in 2024 along with left guard Andrus Peat, whose contract was reworked earlier this offseason.
It’s not too surprising. Ruiz was a liability through his first two years in New Orleans, and though he made impressive strides last season he ended the year with a foot injury and needs to show he can rebound from it to continue playing at a high level.
Take that with the cost involved — if the Saints had picked up Ruiz’s option they would have been on the hook for more than $14 million in 2024 — and it makes more sense to see if a long-term contract extension at a lower rate isn’t the better move.
