Savings if cut or traded
 

I've listed the 2015 cap and dead money figures for our 2015 team.

If you look at the table, its obvious that we cannot trade several players that keep popping up in trade scenarios. Aint gonna happenFor those not familiar with the term dead money, its the money that would still count against our cap if we cut or traded a player.

Re: Savings if cut or traded
 

Nice work danno

In some instances I think we need to take a hit with the dead money to release or trade guys like David Hawthorne or Jahri Evans, however we are already quite far up the creak due to the back loaded contracts

I wouldn't be completely shocked if Colston was let go, although 5 Mil in dead money is a lot for someone that SP probably still values quite a bit

Re: Savings if cut or traded
 

IMO the big cuts are Hawthorne, Bunkley and Evans. That, combined with a Brees restructure, gets you in the black easily, and let's be honest those players won't be missed that much.

I hate to say that about Evans, I really do. But he is about 1/3rd the player he was when he was good.

Loomis will manage the cap masterfully as he always does.

Re: Savings if cut or traded
 

A savings of 13mil. between Evans and Jordan.....see ya! I hate to see Jordan go, but its a small price to pay for what we get in return. Combine that with a restructuring of Brees and we can build a hell of an O line...theoretically speaking.

Re: Savings if cut or traded
 

I think people misunderstand the whole dead money thing. The actual cap savings is much more important. A lot of dead money is inefficient, but it doesn't impact the overall cap number if you are replacing the dead money player with someone of comparable skill and a cheaper salary.

A simple example: For instance, if we cut Colston, we would take 9.7 million overall off the cap. We still have to pay Colston 5.4 million in dead money. But we have 4.3 million left to sign a wide receiver.

And that's the big question when it comes to these moves. Could we find a $4.3 million dollar player in free agency to replace him? It seems likely we could, considering how badly he has played as of late.

The Colts ate a ton of dead money contracts in 2012 and rebuilt that team from the ground up and have now made the playoffs three straight years. It's do-able.

Re: Savings if cut or traded
 

Ahh right thanks JV, that's actually helped a bunch because I think I misunderstood the dead money thing quite a bit

So we do have an opportunity to free up quite a bit of money and get rid of any underachievers at the same time.

Re: Savings if cut or traded
 

Evans had the benefit of another pro bowl guard right next to him. I believe due to the way Brees plays it is more important for us to have strong guards than tackles. If we got a strong guard to play next to Evans I think we can still get enough solid play out of him to protect Brees for the rest of Brees career. When Brees is done we switch our focus more to left tackle.

Re: Savings if cut or traded
 

Exactly.

Consider Curtis Lofton. He's way overpaid at 9 Million, but if we cut him could we find a better ILB for 4 million?

Re: Savings if cut or traded
 

I'm sure Loomis will get it right.

Re: Savings if cut or traded
 

Yep, its a shell game and he's one of the best at it. Most of these high cap guys will be restructured. We aren't giving them more money, we're just giving it to them as guaranteed money instead of salary.