Image credit: ClutchPoints

Saints’ contract move for Pro Bowl offensive lineman frees up $7 million in cap space

Originally posted on ClutchPoints | By Owen Crisafulli | Last updated 2/22/24

The New Orleans Saints are turning the page on an underwhelming 2023 campaign to begin preparing for the offseason, and they are going to have their work cut out for them. Once again, the Saints are way over the salary cap for the 2024 season, which means they are going to have to do a lot of cap gymnastics to get their figure under the line by the time the new league year gets underway in March.

Entering the offseason, the Saints had the worst cap situation in the league by far, as they were over $83 million above the cap line. The front office is going to have to do a lot of work to shed payroll from their books, and they made their first move on Thursday morning by reworking Pro Bowl offensive lineman Erik McCoy’s contract to free up over $7 million in cap space.

Via Tom Pelissero:

“The Saints have begun their annual cap-clearing endeavor, converting Pro Bowl C Erik McCoy’s salary and roster bonus to free up $7.18 million in 2024 cap space.”

The Saints still have a lot of work to do

McCoy signed a five-year, $60 million extension with New Orleans ahead of the 2022 campaign, and has continued to develop into a star for them, earning the first Pro Bowl selection of his career this season. Saving $7 million is a big deal for New Orleans, but even then, they still have a ton of work to do to get under the cap, as they still are over the line by about $75 million.

New Orleans is pretty familiar with being in this sort of position, so they will surely be making a handful of moves like this one with McCoy over the next few weeks as they attempt to clear up their books. McCoy is only the first domino to fall here, and it will be worth keeping an eye on the team to see who ends up getting their deal reworked next.

This article first appeared on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: