This is how I would handle those players. I would restructure both Smith/ Harper deals to make them trade friendly if the players agreed. A trade means you get something of value instead of just a dead money acceleration... if they do not agree then they will be cut.

Regardless of agreement, I would designate Greer and Harper as post June 1 casualties. What happens then is that the cap is effected as outlined below.

Smith Cap Figure $13.9m / Dead money incurred for 2014 2.3m Frees up 11.6m.

Harper Cap Figure $5.8m / Dead money incurred for 2014 $3.6m Frees up $2.2m

Greer Cap Figure $5.8m / Dead money incurred for 2014 2.6m frees $up 3.2m

Moore cap hit 5m / Dead money incurred 2.3m frees up 3.7m

Sproles is in the last year of his contract Cap Figure 4.3m dead 750k frees up 3.5m

Estimated Cap Relief with out exercising 2 June 1st players $24.2m

Estmated Cap Relief with Harper and Greer designated as June 1st Casualties. $27.6m

The June 1st designation forces the 2014 part of the prorated bonus to be counted against the team but the remaining years are moved to 2015's cap.

Colston for example.
With out the J1 designation
8.3m Cap Hit / 10.1m in dead money if cut - (-1.8m) cap loss
With the J1 designation
8.3m Cap Hit / 2014 - 4.5m In dead money , 2014 6.7m in dead money. A cap savings for 2014 of 3.8m

Can't say I disagree at all, but we still need to free up another 10m on top of your 27.6m. Going to be tough for Loomis this year.

What do we need 40m for? 9m for Jimmy Graham but what is the remaining 31m for?

Probably do not need 9m for Jimmy either.

i would do Jimmy's contract line this.
60m for 6 years (25m bonus and guaranteed, the rest spread out)
2014 4.1m bonus / 1m salary / 5.1m cap hit
2015 4.1m bonus / 2m salary / 6.1m cap hit
2016 4.1m bonus / 2m salary / 6.1m cap hit
2017 4.1m bonus / 5m salary / 9.1m cap hit
2018 4.1m bonus / 10m salary /14.1m total <----- Restructure or extend here.
2019 4.1m bonus / 15.4m salary / 19.1m total

Thats what I'm curious about. Say we let several players like Smith, Harper, Moore, Greer, PT, Strief, DLP walk and maybe a few others, what are there replacement costs?

In your previous example who replaces Harper, Moore, Sproles, Greer and some potential other cuts? If we cut 5 or 6 high dollar guys, we'll have to sign some replacement (or acquire depth).

What do the replacements add to the cap? Bush will add 2 million, A DLP/Strief replacement will be 2 million easy. Will we acquire a cheaper version of Sproles? For how much? Promote Cadet?

How many of them have to be replaced with new players vs present depth?
Who is on IR that we forgot about?
Which ones can you replace with the draft?

I do not watch college football so I have no idea what the draft possibilities are. Draft also begs to question, we jettison a player with a draftee in mind to replace, how far do you go to make sure you get that draft pick?

Harper - Can you get better for less than 5.8m?
Moore - I believe Stills fills this position, if you need depth Tanner is on a futures contract.
Sproles - Do you replace with depth, do we need a Sproles replacement? Can we find equal under 3.5m?
Greer - Can you get better talent for 5m? We have P.Rob coming off IR.
DLP - Can you get better for 2m? Draft?
Strief -Can you do better for 2.5m? Draft?
PT - @ 3m I do not see him going anywhere this year (final contract year). Since he is in his final year do you extend him for 3 more years to knock the 3m down to 2m?

Yes I answered with more questions... its the process. You can bet the FO is going through the same scenarios and questions right now.


Knows what is screwing with me right now? Malcom Jenkins
He signed a 5 year in 2009, he is a Free Agent in 2014 look at his name and his cap hit for 2014... WTF?
New Orleans Saints Salary Cap - 2014 Breakdown

What do we need 40m for? 9m for Jimmy Graham but what is the remaining 31m for?

Probably do not need 9m for Jimmy either.

i would do Jimmy's contract line this.
60m for 6 years (25m bonus and guaranteed, the rest spread out)
2014 4.1m bonus / 1m salary / 5.1m cap hit
2015 4.1m bonus / 2m salary / 6.1m cap hit
2016 4.1m bonus / 2m salary / 6.1m cap hit
2017 4.1m bonus / 5m salary / 9.1m cap hit
2018 4.1m bonus / 10m salary /14.1m total <----- Restructure or extend here.
2019 4.1m bonus / 15.4m salary / 19.1m total

How much cap room do we really need to free up?

Well lets see (my approximation):

15.3 mil over the cap now.

+6.5 mil for Jimmy's contract (first year is usually lower)

+3.5 mil for a RT contract (at a minimum)

+3.2 mil for a C contract (middle of the pack)

+2.1 mil for Bush (proved he can start)

+1 mil for Haralson/other for OLB depth

+3.5 mil for all draft pick signings

+2 mil for emergency injury funds during the season.


That's about 37 mil we need to free up... 37 million wow

Now lets cut everyone on the list that was originally posted:

Cap hit minus dead money = Cap savings if cut
Will Smith - 13,902,451 - 2,352,451 = 11,550,000
Darren Sproles - 4,250,000 - 750,000 = 3,500,000
Jabari Greer - 5,825,000 – 2,650,000 = 3,175,000
Pierre Thomas – 2,900,000 – 0 = 2,900,000
Lance Moore - 5,068,750 - 2,357,500 = 2,711,250
Roman Harper - 5,870,000 - 3,690,000 = 2,180,000
Mark Ingram - 2,359,875 - 973,500 = 1,386,375
Patrick Robinson - 2,804,333 - 1,446,833 = 1,357,500

If we cut all of them we save 28.45 mil..

Leaving us with another 8.55 mil to cut... It's going to be a tough off-season. Come-on Mickey, pull another out of your hat please.

That's what I came up with before. Not exact by any means.