SmashMouth

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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