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The New Orleans Saints have five weeks to bring the most bloated payroll in the NFL under the still-undetermined 2015 salary cap.

That's the easy part.

The Saints will be able to carry over an estimated $1.71 million from the 2014 salary cap, according to the NFLPA.

Then they will be able to extract as much as $22.38 million from automatic or nearly automatic contract adjustments, turning roster bonuses into signing bonus that can be spread out over several years.

The result? A new cap number, by our estimate, of $142,457,032 -- a mere $42,968 under that $142.5 million cap estimate.


Byrd's contract includes a $6 million roster bonus that will be converted to a signing bonus at some point in the next month. It won't affect Byrd's income, but the accounting maneuver will reduce the Saints' salary cap burden by $4.8 million in 2015. Rather than take the full hit in 2015, the Saints will get to spread out the cost of the bonus over five years at only $1.2 million annually.

Other contracts have the same built-in savings mechanism:

Junior Galette

His $12.5 million roster bonus can be converted to signing bonus, prorated at $2.5 million annually for next five years. The salary cap hit in 2015 drops from $15.45 million to $5.45 million. Total savings in 2015: $10 million

Jimmy Graham

His $5 million roster bonus can be converted to signing bonus, prorated at $1.67 million annually for next three years. The salary cap hit in 2015 drops from $11 million to $7.67 million. Total savings in 2015: $3.33 million.

Curtis Lofton

His $4.5 million roster bonus can be converted to signing bonus, prorated at $1.5 million annually for next three years. The salary cap hit in 2015 drops from $9.25 million to $6.25 million. Total savings in 2015: $3 million.

David Hawthorne

The $2.5 million roster bonus can be converted to signing bonus, prorated at $1.25 million annually for next two years. His salary cap hit in 2015 drops from $6.010 million to $4.76 million. Total savings: $1.25 million

The Saints will have to find the rest of their savings by releasing players or renegotiating contracts.


New Orleans Saints salary cap: Bloated budget will start to ease this month | NOLA.com