How the Saints Got Under the NFL Cap in 2021

How the New Orleans Saints were able to maneuver contracts and release players to get underneath the NFL cap limit for 2021.

Kyle T. Mosley | Jul 3, 2021

Michael Ginnitti, the co-founder of Spotrac, shared how the New Orleans Saints maneuvered to get and stay under the 2021 cap limit. He tweeted, "It took ten contracts restructures, six notable releases, one contract extension, one retirement, and one trade."

New Orleans' cap space is at $11.934,274, which ranks 15th in the NFL, according to Ginnitti.

Most of the credit goes to Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis and Vice President of Football Administration Khai Harley for brilliantly handling the cap situation in 2021.

Saints Fans and Who Dats coined the phrases for the team's cap moves as "Loomisnomics" or "Harleying the Cap."

New Orleans Saints Front Office - Mickey Loomis, Khai Harley, Jeff Ireland

SAINTS NOTABLE CAP-SAVING MOVES IN 2021

CONTRACT RESTRUCTURES (10)

Terron Armstead
Taysom Hill
Cam Jordan
Demario Davis
Marshon Lattimore
Ryan Ramczyk
Michael Thomas
Andrus Peat
Malcolm Jenkins
David Onyemata

RELEASES (6)

Janoris Jenkins
Emmanuel Sanders
Jared Cook
Thomas Morstead
Kwon Alexander
Nick Easton

TRADED

Malcom Brown

RETIREMENT

Drew Bress

THE SAINTS CAP IN 2021

The New Orleans Saints' current top fifty-one salaries for 2021 is at $173,556,230 with base salaries of $66,24,778, signing bonuses of $74,190,431, roster bonuses of 2,126,471, workout bonuses of $400,000, and restructured bonuses of $32,451,425.

Loomis and Harley were able to position the team underneath the 2021 adjusted salary cap of $185,490,504 by signing and restructuring bonuses in players' contracts.

Marcus Williams' franchise designation is in the Saints' crosshairs to shoot down below its current $10,612,000 figure.

Furthermore, the team handled right tackle Ryan Ramczyk's fifth year with a contract extension. Can they do the same with cornerback Marshon Lattimore in his contract's final season?

Lattimore gave the Saints cap relief by restructuring 2021's contract for a $990,000 base salary, $9,254,000 bonus, and four voidable years. In the process, Lattimore's cap hit was lowered to $2,840,800 and $10,244,000 in dead cap.

Expect New Orleans to sign additional players after freeing cap space. Mickey Loomis made reference to finding an additional cornerback for the Saints roster. The opened cap space will allow them to creatively package a deal for a veteran free agent like a Dre Kirkpatrick, Mike Conley, or Richard Sherman.