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Thanks to some thoughtful pre-planning and crunching of numbers, the New Orleans Saints’ front office has done a good job managing the salary cap for years while consistently putting a winning product on the field.



But they’ll have to be more creative than ever when the veteran free agency signing period begins on March 12 as they attempt to bounce back quickly from a disappointing 7-9 season.

While it was recently reported that they’re going to be about $16 million over the anticipated salary cap of $121 million for 2013, Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis said the figure wasn’t right.

“It’s not right, but it’s not far off,” he said while declining to say how much whittling the Saints will have to do.

Regardless, it’s going to be a challenging offseason for Loomis and his staff as they continue to look for answers in the wake of this season while casting an eye toward next season.

In trying to allay the fears of fans who think the sky is falling following a losing season and news of salary cap issues, Loomis said he wouldn’t characterize it as “a mess.”

“It’s tight, though,” he said this week. “Let’s not kid ourselves … it’s tight and we’ve got some work to do. But it’s things we can navigate through.”

Loomis said they have gotten through them since coming to the Saints in 2000, serving as general manager since 2002, as they did before that when he worked for the Seattle Seahawks.

“These caps run in cycles, where you’re right up against it and then you’re not,” he said. “You’re right up against it and then you’re not, particularly when you have a good team.

“And so, we’re on the cycle where we’re up against it. We’re over it, and pretty significantly, so we’ve got some work to do.”

Fortunately for Loomis, the Saints don’t have nearly as many potential unrestricted free agents as last season to worry about.

At this time last year, their list of upper-tier free agents included quarterback Drew Brees, guard Carl Nicks, wide receivers Marques Colston and Robert Meachem, and cornerback Tracy Porter.

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ClintSaints

Let's get some fresh blood on defense. We can let Vilma and Ellis go - they are no longer effective. Keep Will Smith and a lot of the others. But is Spags staying? Does anyone know?

dizzle88

I believe Sean Payton will let spags stay for a year whilst he's there, if the defense has a melt down again, spags will be gone

As for defense I think smith, Ellis and Vilma are all gone, which helps our cap by about 12 million I believe

Our defense needs a playmaking OLB and a dominant DE to compliment cam Jordan

David Hawthorne didn't impress me very much, always seemed to be one step behind, casillas didn't jump out at me either so I'm hoping for a dominant OLB in the draft

The Dude

We got fat to trim. I for one am for firing every defensive playing except Jordon. Maybe one or two others. Clean house. Spags gets a pass from me this year. 1st year on a new system with new personnel, no coach, no GM, no assistant coach, and all kind of stupid sanctions and distractions. Players can spout all they want about how they weren't distracted this year but that is a lie.

papz

Here's another article on the matter.

Breaking Down the Saints' 2013 Salary Cap: Where Is the Money Best Spent? | Bleacher Report

Rugby Saint II

Like Loomis said we are significantly over the salary cap but it always fall into a cycle. You're up against it and then you're not.
Letting go of just three border line defensive players would make a significant impact.
I love me some Jon Vilma but he's only a MLB'er and we have a very good healthy young player there. He needs to go and be replaced with young talent.
Ellis is a no brainer for me. Over paid and underperforming.
Smith..........please take it some where else.

saintsfan1976

Sign Bushrod (don't overpay or you might as well go after another LT)

Restructure Vilma and Smith.

Brees - give a little like your pal Tom Brady did. (6 Superbowl appearances in the last ten years... I'm just sayin'....)