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The New Orleans Saints will create about $300,000 in salary-cap space when Drew Brees' retirement is officially processed after June 1.

That may not sound like much. But every bit helps for a Saints team that is essentially searching for cap space under couch cushions at this point.

The Saints currently have less than $1 million in cap space. They will eventually need to create nearly $2 million in space to sign their draft class. And they still have more roster holes to fill than usual at this late stage of the offseason.

That includes glaring question marks at the starting cornerback, wide receiver and defensive tackle positions -- among others that were depleted during their salary-cap purge.



General manager Mickey Loomis said last week that he “wouldn’t be surprised” to see New Orleans add to the roster. And he suggested that June 1 “matters to us” because of some of the salary-cap breaks associated with that date.

But Loomis and vice president of football administration Khai Harley still have their work cut out for them, to say the least, if they want to target a top available player like cornerbacks Richard Sherman, Steven Nelson or Bashaud Breeland.

Where Saints can find cap space

The main reason June 1 matters around the NFL is because teams can now spread out salary-cap hits over the next two years with any players who officially get released, retire or get traded.

It’s unlikely that the Saints have been waiting until June to release a player, since they could have done that earlier in the offseason and designated it as a “post-June 1” transaction (essentially what they did with Brees' retirement). And it’s unclear if they are considering any trades, which would obviously create a roster hole somewhere else.

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