The salary is not what comes back to bite you as you can cut a player and take no hit on that. Its these huge upfront bonuses given to get the player to agree to a restructure or extension that haunt you for years.

But it doesn't have to haunt you for years. It can haunt you for only one year. That's my point. The Colts did this for years and years, pushing back and renegotiating deals. Then they bit the bullet, took a huge dead money hit, got rid of all that in one year, and the next season they went 10-6 and had the most cap room in the league the following offseason. When the time comes, the Saints are going to have to do the same thing.

You don't put that bullet in the chamber unless your going to rebuild and you have lost hope on your present team and coaches.

I was always kinda cross on how the restructuring thing worked. Good to know.
So the best chance we have is seeing some vets take a pay cut this year?

.....or if your star QB is on his way out and you know you'll never be competitive without him, so why not tank that season anyway and prepare to come back with a vengeance. I see that being the scenario when Brees retires. Until then, it's not so difficult to keep your top talent to ensure the team remains competitive while that window is open.

Now, where did you pull 8m cap increase?

They changed the number, it said 7.8 or 7.9 million when the story was first posted.