Only Lattimore and Ram would be very hard to absorb the hit. According to this we owe Michael Thomas $28 million next year if we keep him vs only $25 million dead cap if we cut or trade him so its actually a savings, and Shaheed is cheap and seems more motivated. Plus there are options like post June 1 cuts or asking players we could cut to take pay cuts.

What I really don't want to do is sign Peat, Thomas, Hill, Landry, Mathieu, etc to restructured extensions that make them Saints through 2030 in order to get under the 2023 cap and make room to bring in JJ Watt, OBJ, Matt Ryan / Tom Brady, Julio Jones, Bobby Wagner, and Ezekiel Elliott as free agents while trading all our draft picks this and next year to move up for a raw DE Or LT who will get hurt in preason and go on the IR giving us no rookies. That would be the Loomis playbook, try to be the oldest team in the league and get $ 100 million over the 2024 cap by restructuring to win it all in 2023 with the senior tour.

https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/new-orleans-saints

Explain how Shaheed is more motivated than Thomas?

Since joining the team Shaheed has never made a cryptic tweet, refused a phone call from the coach, delayed a needed surgery, or fought a teammate in practice. He doesn't have much money guaranteed so he is motivated to prove something to get paid.

None of that says that Shaheed is more motivated than Thomas. Just more of your biased bullcrap. Thought so.

Just so you understand, this is a football discussion forum not a criminal court. I am not saying I can prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Michael Thomas is so unmotivated he should go jail for the rest of his life. I am giving an opinion that he may not be especially motivated. There is a phrase 'young and hungry' that predates this message board. I want the team to get younger. Everything I listed, while not proof for a criminal trial, backs the message board opinion that Shaheed is more motivated. If you think employees who fight at work, post cryptic messages about work on social media, and don't return the bosses phone calls are motivated, go start a business and hire employees who do that. They will be ready available at negotiable salaries even in this tight job marker. I won't be able to prove those employees are not motivated in a court of law, but I won't be an early investor.

Your opinion. Simply that. My opinion is that not only does Thomas have ten times the talent of Shaheed, but he has the motivation to be great (see his NFL record breaking numbers). Just because a couple of injuries have got in the way I do not see that motivation being any less. If anything, I would expect his motivation being greater than ever.

His motivation won't matter if he can't stay healthy. JJ Watt has a lot of talent too. Honestly Terrelle Pryor had a lot of talent. I don't think Michael Thomas is the most or least motivated player. I view things like fighting teammates and going AWOL when surgery is needed in the offseason as negatives but I would be willing to overlook them if he had produced recently. But I think with 2.5 years of nagging injuries, his magically staying healthy point forward just isn't the most likely scenario. So I would rather trade him if we can, or cut him in the offseason if his health issues continue to 3 years without good production and nobody will trade for him.

Beyond the issue of his health or motivation, I also don't view high investment in the wide receiver position as a winning formula for building a championship contender. The Steelers won for years by letting star receivers walk. The Patriots through their championship years bought low and sold high on wide receivers and did not give any record breaking type deals to receivers. Thomas' current contract could actually be cheap if he got healthy with the escalation of the market, but he is not healthy, and if he got healthy he would want a new deal pretty soon, before we are I think able to contend at a championship level. So that is the other factor to me. Maybe Panning somehow comes back from his foot injuries and becomes the next Lane Johnson. Maybe Werner needs a long term deal and is lighting it up down the road. Maybe Lattimore gets healthy. Maybe we find a franchise QB and need to lock them up. I want to spend the money at those positions. I want to let the Antonio Browns, Wes Welkers, Randy Mosses, Sony Michels, and Leveon Bells walk, because I see more successful franchises do that and I see it work.

Since joining the team Shaheed has never made a cryptic tweet, refused a phone call from the coach, delayed a needed surgery, or fought a teammate in practice. He doesn't have much money guaranteed so he is motivated to prove something to get paid.

Explain how Shaheed is more motivated than Thomas?

AG I've come to realize there's no rationalization with these people who can't stand MT. He obviously pissed in their Cheerios. What's funny, is none of them seem to understand anything about his injuries. I've been dating a physician since June. I've got her watching Saints games now even though she's an Eagles fan. I've discussed the MT situation with her and shown her posts on this board. Her response to most of the stuff she's read here are "IDIOTS!"