Saints 2015 Off Season Moves on a Beer Budget

2015 off season Beer Budget moves

$161.3 million of a 140 to 146 million dollor cap in 2015

Restructure a contract -- a win-win proposition.

Converts a players' salary or roster bonus into a signing bonus, so the cap costs can be spread out over multiple years. The Saints do this every year, Galette and possibly Lofton, head the list.

The Saints will have 8 players with salary cap figures in excess of $9 million and 11 players with charges in excess of $6 million in 2015.

Drew Brees has a cap charge of $26.4 million in 2015 and $27.4 million in 2016 due to the backloaded, heavy signing bonus structure employed by the Saints.

Will Brees do what Tom Brady did?
Will he do what Peyton Manning did ?
Time will tell. This would change so much in the off season plans. so i am not including it.

But Restructure the contract for the following contracts would generate more cap space than cutting would.

Junior Galette - $12.5 million roster bonus restructure is simple
-$10 million in cap space

Marques Colston $9.7 cap charge = $4.3 in cap space
Drew And colston are a mated pair it seems

Curtis Lofton $9 cap charge = 4 in cap space
Might be his best season as a Saint and we do not have anyone to replace him anyways.

Cuts?

Jahri Evans $11 cap charge = $6 in cap space

Ben Grubs 9.6 cap charge = 4 in cap space

I do not see a replacement on the roster for either one. this is the area i see the draft playing a hand in. so they stay put IMO. and see if mickey has anything left in that wand of his

Next

Brodrick Bunkley 6.1 cap charge = 2.8 in cap space

LB David Hawthorne $6 cap charge = 2.9 in cap space

maybe depends on the FA market and what is happening depth wise.

Free Agents

Look at this cap situation and if something creative is not done with Drew my shopping list looks like this keeping the previous numbers in mind and used as a guide line of sorts.

Roman Harper - we missed his leadership in the back in. did we burn that bridge? are the saints willing to eat some crow? Do the panthers know they got a deal and are still laughing. I am betting on ROFLAO. so moving on

My So So big ticket FA

Cardinals NT Dan Williams: 6-2, 327
A big-bodied anchor and only 27 years of age he might be the bargain of the FA NT in 2015. have to see what Shu does to the market and see if Mickey can pull a wabbit out of the hat one more time. But this time a bunny or maybe two might just do the trick compared to the over grown mutant bunny he had to pull for Byrd. hard to figure 6 to 8 million maybe?

Now for Bargain basement shopping

Brian Orakpo OLB/DE, Washington Redskins
Franchised and now coming off of IR so a short-term deal to re-establishing himself. one-year or two-year upgrade at a 3-4 OLB. Jr might have issues getting on the field as much. Which would benefit him i would think. i say he is over used and run into the ground.

Mason Foster, ILB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Young athletic ILB who is just 25 years old, Immediately upgrade depth wise and IMO opinion could be ready to push for a starters spot. $3 million per year. possessing long-term potential

Players to consider and keep an eye on

Justin Durant or Rolando McClain OLB/ILB Dallas Cowboys
Durant a 3-4 ILB coming off of IR so say at $3 million a year deal? How does Rolando McClain play effects him? will they keep just one or both? with the big ticket items in Dallas to sign i believe Justin might just be odd man out. If not look at McClain

Kareem Jackson CB Houston Texans
If the saints did sign him, he actually might be the second best CB before the ink dries on a deal. A Steady Freddy type of player. he does not wow you but he is very dependable. At 26 that wow factor might just evolve in his game. we may not be able to swing it

A.Q. Shipley, C/G, Indianapolis Colts
swing man or starting option? a bit of a reach i know but at say $3 million per year?


so my dream comes true
NT Dan Williams Cards
and we roll the dice
OLB/DE, Brian Orakpo Redskins
Just maybe some how add one or both
ILB Mason Foster Buccaneers
ILB Justin Durant Cowboys

Thanks to the people at overthecap.com for doing a lot of the math