BakoSaint

The one sentence from Underhill does not really explain it. Previously Ram was due base salaries of $17m in 2024, $18m in 2025, $19m in 2026, had $10m prorated money from past bonuses due in each of those years, and $2.5m dead money due in 2027 void year. For 2025, $6.5m of his $17m base salary was going to guarantee this Saturday March 16.

So now we know his salary has dropped to a vet minimum, probably under $1.5m, but we don't know how much of that is a pay cut and how much was converted to bonuses. He previously had no guarantees (but would have had one for $6.5m on Saturday) and presumably the Saturday guarantee was accelerated to today. So his yearly cash for this year, regardless of what future caps it has been restructured to is somewhere between $6.5m-$17m. There is a 2025 escalator that lets him earn a lot back but how much? If he was previously set to earn $18m in 2025 does the escalator allow him to get back to $18m, or does it let him make up for all pay cuts he took and potentially take him $18m plus the possible $10.5m 2024 pay cut for a total of $28.5m in 2025? And is any of it guaranteed at any time and how to does it trigger? If Ram plays 17 games in 2024 but loses a step in performance, we don't want to guarantee him $28.5 million or anything close to that. On the other hand if it triggers on performance and availability and it just gets back up to $18m if he is fully back, that's reasonable.

Hopefully he took an actual pay cut and its a good deal. If the surgery goes well and he can move forward at a reasonable salary without giant guarantees that is good. If the injury bug returns in 2024 he can be a post-june-1 cut if there are no guarantees for 2025.

saintsfan1976

Saints are now $15MM in the black

BakoSaint

I think its important to weigh all our options. This money does not have to be used to sign big name players, and I am not convinced we are one big name player away from taking down Mahomes and Purdy.

Two other uses are possible for this money:

1. Trading a player before June 1 to acquire picks in this years draft. At some point we do need to get younger. Players may have more value now than post June 1 when rosters are set and caps spent. Plus getting draft picks sooner means they can contribute now.

2. Not spending it. Plenty of major contender teams went into 2023 well under the salary cap. There is a distinct advantage in flexibility to this approach. If such a team gets off to a hot start they can be buyers in the trade market, and get an even higher impact player then. If they get off to a bad start and it does not look like their year, they can be sellers in the trade market and not constrained by potential dead cap hits. If they do not get involved in the trade market, the spare salary cap space allows more flexibility for extending existing players or having more options in the following offseason.

Also, we still need to sign our draft picks.

AsylumGuido

This doesn't affect the current cap figure. It was already factored in.

AsylumGuido

More spending money! Championship!

AsylumGuido

For anyone thinking it is so easy to manage a cap, check this out. The Niners lose a 2025 pick and have their 2024 4th rounder moved to the end of the round for a violation.

SmashMouth

Prolly more indicative of either complete buffoonery or an intentional attempt to circumvent the rules.

AsylumGuido

The mistake they made wouldn't have circumvented the cap itself according to the articles I've read, but were more on the side of faulty reporting. It still cost them dearly. A true cap violation is far more punitive, I believe.

Danno

Every year

BakoSaint

I don't think we know what a true cap violation would entail because I don't think it has never happened before. Beyond loss of draft picks and fines, a key provision is that if a team exceeds the salary cap the NFL can terminate contracts to bring them into compliance.

Terminating a veteran contract might not work, because many veterans had big signing bonuses that would cause dead cap hits and actually worsen compliance, so it would have to be a player who is either on their rookie contract in a non-guaranteed year or a veteran nearing the end of their contract whose deal has not been restructured and thus carries little dead cap.

In theory if the 49ers had accidently exceeded the salary cap the NFL could have found some late round draft pick whose salary was not guaranteed, had a minimal signing bonus, and was mostly paid in base salary, and terminated their contract to bring the 49ers into compliance. For example the 49ers have a player named Brock Purdy who has a base salary of $985,000 but would generate a dead cap hit of only $38,506 if cut, so had the 49ers exceeded the cap, the league could have released Brock Purdy from their roster to save them about $950,000 instantly. If the Saints exceeded the salary cap, Adebo could be a good target for the league, as he carries a $3.4 million base salary and only $0.25 million dead cap.