Saints News Network

Saints Free Up $26.2 Million in Cap Space

The Saints start their yearly quest of getting under the salary cap by converting two key player's compensations into signing bonuses.

John Hendrix

Mickey Loomis and Khai Harley are going to work to get the Saints under the salary cap. We hear about how this is such a daunting task every year, but the New Orleans front office gets it done. According to ESPN's Field Yates, the team has freed up $26.2 million in cap space with the contracts of Michael Thomas and Ryan Ramczyk.

Source: the Saints’ cap moves are underway, as they’ve converted $14.565M of Michael Thomas’ compensation for 2022 and $18,206,608 of OT Ryan Ramczyk’s compensation for 2022 into signing bonuses, creating $26.217M in cap space.

Things were a lot more straightforward entering this offseason, as the team isn't faced with a situation like COVID where they had to slash, trim and cut people to get under. Restructures will be a common theme as we build up to the new season.

This means Michael Thomas is playing with the Saints in 2022, and that's hardly a shock. Many talking heads thought the Saints would move on from him, but everything we heard about the situation from last season was resolved and things are great between him and the Saints. 

Thomas is ready to play, and the move to convert his compensation further echoes that. If the team were to move on from him at any point now, they'd have to eat that $14.565 million this season plus some. 

The new league year is set for March 16, and New Orleans has a good bit of work ahead. However, this is a huge move to slash just over 34 percent of their deficit.

Read More Saints News

Published
John Hendrix
JOHN HENDRIX

I officially started covering the New Orleans Saints & other NFL topics in 2011. My work has been featured on various outlets over the years. I worked closely with Skyhorse Publishing in Fall 2018 to update the book, Tales From the New Orleans Saints Sidelines, which filled in all Saints material from the 2013-2017 seasons. Prior to joining Saints News Network, I served as the Managing Editor of SB Nation's Canal Street Chronicles for 3.5 years, and before that with FanSided's Who Dat Dish as the Managing Editor for several years. I have also had experiences of being a freelance Saints reporter for The Sun Herald in Biloxi, MS and a contributing writer for WDSU, a local NBC TV station in New Orleans. I have appeared on a vast amount of TV and Radio shows, both nationally and locally. For tips, comments, or suggestions, please contact me at johnhendrix@saintsnews.net

Home/News