The Saints still are significantly over the cap
The New Orleans Saints cleared significant salary cap space by restructuring Derek Carr’s contract last week. And they reportedly began this week by executing a series of moves to clear even more space.
ESPN’s Katherine Terrell reported that New Orleans restructured contracts for three players: defensive end Carl Granderson, guard Cesar Ruiz and defensive tackle Khalen Saunders. The moves, which opened up nearly $14 million in cap space, included converting salaries into roster bonuses and adding voidable years.
Here are the details, per Terrell:
Granderson: lowered $11.73 million cap hit to $6.482 million
Ruiz: lowered $12.25 million cap hit to $5.8 million
Saunders: lowered $4.6 million cap hit to $2.5 million
As for actual free agency moves, the Saints didn’t do much on Monday. They began the day by trading for New England Patriots nose tackle Davon Godchaux and ended the day by re-signing edge rusher Chase Young to a three-year, $51 million deal. They also watched cornerback Paulson Adebo agree to a deal with the New York Giants.
Reminder: the NFL’s legal tampering period runs through 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, at which point free agency deals can become official.
Chase Young Breaks Silence After Reported $51 Million Saints Deal
The New Orleans Saints reportedly got their man on a nice, new deal.
The New Orleans Saints certainly got their guy.
New Orleans made a great move last season by bringing in young pass rusher Chase Young to the team’s defense. Young was the National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2020 and then was seemingly forgotten about.
Young missed most of the 2021 and 2022 seasons but had 7.5 sacks in 2023 — the same as his Pro Bowl rookie year. While this is the case, he settled for a one-year, prove-it deal with the Saints. He did just that and had 5.5 sacks with New Orleans in 17 games while logging a career-high 21 quarterback hits.
The Saints clearly liked what they saw out of the 25-year-old and reportedly signed him to a three-year, $51 million deal on Monday shortly after the NFL’s legal tampering period began. The reported deal can go as high as $57 million.
Chase Young took to social media on Monday following the reported news with a brief message.
“Thank you God,” Young posted with an exclamation point.
The Saints are lucky to have Young in town and it seems like he’s excited to stick around. With free agency approaching, it seemed like it would be difficult to retain him due to the Saints’ cap situation. New Orleans freed up some space thanks to some restructuring and now gets to keep an important piece of the team’s defense at just 25 years old. The deal is a win for Young as well as he obviously gets paid, but then will re-enter free agency and cash in again before he even reaches 30 years old.
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