'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Monday Morning Quarterback's Peter King sat down with "Over the Cap" founder Jason Fitzgerald for his column this week. Over the Cap is a website that tracks NFL contracts and each team's salary cap.

He didn't have glowing things to say about the Saints' salary cap situation.

"They probably would have begun 2016 $35 million over the cap if they remained status quo," Fitzgerald told MMQB." Even releasing the players with the worst contracts would have provided little relief. They were just a sinking ship taking on more water. The team really had no choice. The cap was going to ruin the franchise at some point, and they are at least able to turn some bad contracts into draft assets." Players like Thomas Morstead or Rafael Bush might be in danger of release at some point. I could see the team exploring a trade for Kenny Vaccaro if they can receive reasonable value for him this summer.

Moving forward, I would still be watching two big-name players closely in New Orleans. The immediate one is guard Jahri Evans, who has an $11 million cap hit. The second name is Drew Brees, not so much this year but in 2016. Brees will enter the final year of his contract in 2016 with a $27.6 million cap number. Brees will be 37. If the two sides cannot agree on a new deal by next year, I would anticipate that the Saints will be very open to trading Brees, who would likely still hold great value even in his late-30s. That would completely close the chapter on this era of Saints football, but it’s a move they should consider if it gets them the assets needed to turn over the organization. They won’t receive anything if they let him walk away.


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Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

I saw that article. But, isn't the team projected to be under the cap by about $30 million next year?

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Hate to say it but I agree with this guy. We all knew sooner or later it had to end but I would think that Drew would take a cut to stay. We're the franshise that gave him the shot at the Superbowl and he would've never made it with anyone else. No one was beating down his door.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Yada Yada Yada, same sh!t every year. We will be in the best cap situation that we have been in a long time next year. Eat a fat one Peter King

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Don't eat the cheese

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

I will definatly agree about the bloated contracts that Loomis has given players over the years. I could also see Brees being traded after this season, might as well strike while the iron is hot, his era will close sooner than later.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Yeah cause Evans,Colston,Bunkley are getting there full salary next year. Same with Brees

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

They say the same thing every year, we'll really see the dividends next off season, I'd expect plenty of moves as well!

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

I don't see us trading Drew. I do see us developing a young gun next year and riding Drew's arm into the sunset. He'll be in his 40's playing behind the top O-line in the NFL and still setting records. He'll retire a Saint and be a first round Hall of Fame inductee. Bank on it...........I know the Saints are. :bng:

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

It all depends on his play this season.
I don't think we trade him either, he restructures and retires a Saint.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Peter King is a fat turd looking for anything to make the Saints look bad. I think perhaps Loomis has dug a big hole & we should think about letting him go next year. However I can't see them trading Drew. Drew needs to think about a restructure of his contract. I think Brady did it and maybe that's why you don't hear anyone talking about how the Pats should trade him. I know there are a lot of teams who would trade everything they have to get a QB like him. For now he is all ours.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Brees and his agent are willing to restructure. Now isn't the time though. Next off-season is when Loomis could work a deal exactly like Brady's where Brees can getting an additional three years, a signing bonus and a reasonable annual salary fully guaranteed. That is the way Brady's was structured.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

The ONLY way we let Drew go is if we have a 1st overall pick one year and there is an Andrew Luck type QB available. Not likely on either option. We have a bazillion draft picks this year and if a few hit big they will replace some heavy dollar veterans. See how easy that is?

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Thought Brees said somewhere he was open to an extension but Loomis said it wasn't in the plans this year, maybe next. Am I wrong?

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

I think there in cap panic. Drew stays to sell tickets.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Brees is more than willing to renegotiate. He will benefit monetarily if he does restructure with bonuses and guarantees. The FO is waiting until next year to extend his contract when we can better afford it. This pushing money forward is killing us.

Don't expect Drew to renegotiate unless we just can't get under the cap.:bng:

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Drew is definitely here this season but he will have to renegotiate next off season or he'll be traded. If Drew decides not to take a pay-cut I do believe many teams are willing to pay what he's asking for his services.

Hey, who thought Manning would ever leave the Colts? but..... Truth is we robbed Peter to Pay Paul and keep our Super Bowl talent. At some point it's going to all add up to too much!

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

2017. An extraordinary year during which the Saints traded Brees and ran straight into BoneGate.
NFLPA are suing the Saints for more than they got due to number of player injuries that arose after using the Wishbone offense extensively.
For the first time in years, Gayle, Renee, Rita and Ryan were in harmony when the said that Tom Benson has no comment.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

I'd be disappointed if we got rid of Vaccaro. It is this young talent we should be retaining to build a future around. One bad season doesn't mean he is ****.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

True but draft picks are more valuable in my opinion.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Depends.
Do not forsake confirmed NFL talent for potential NFL talent.
So the question becomes is Kenny Vaccaro confirmed NFL talent.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Depends if last year was only a sophomore slump, if not then uh oh.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Of course the team is going to do whatever they have to do to get under the cap. And I've liked the moves this off-season. But the fact that it takes this much just shows how bad some of these past deals have been. I've been saying this for a couple years, and there is always "that guy" who comes from the shadows of internet land to tell us just how much he thinks he knows about all of the specifics of every contract, and just what an expert they are on the team's salary cap situation. They swear that everything is accounted for and we'll magically end up under the cap every year....... Then all this crazy stuff happens. And you realize that these "experts" from internet land don't know jack.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

In Loomis I trust .... he'll make the right moves to keep this team just below the salary cap. I'd rather be in salary cap hell and be contenders than have 30 million to spend each year and see the team go 7-9

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

Only problem with that is that we didn't have 30 million to spend and went 7-9. Having money to spend and get better helps a lot.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

NFL AM must be having there normal everything going wrong thing for tge Saints. Can post frim phone but check out tge Saints official twitter reply

Love it

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

This passage from the article is a great illustration of what Loomis should learn before giving it up so easily in contract negotiations...

"...If I had to narrow my choices down to two teams I would select the 49ers and the Patriots. The 49ers I appreciate because everything is done on their terms. Almost every player on that team, even the stars, has large amounts of money tied into being healthy and productive, which is not common in the NFL. For instance last year Navorro Bowman missed out on $750,000 in salary because he was hurt.

But if there is one team that stands out head and shoulders above anyone else it’s New England. To have the kind of success that they have had in a salary cap era of football is incredible. While everyone deals in two- and three-year windows, this team operates in decades. What sets New England apart isn’t so much the financial acumen (the Patriots have had more than their fair share of bad deals), but their steadfast approach to valuation of a player. They don’t waver or allow themselves to be taken advantage of. They are cold as ice when it comes to their players. It goes back years, to the team cutting Lawyer Milloy on the eve of the season. No player is bigger than the organization. Whether it was Wes Welker, Randy Moss, Richard Seymour, Logan Mankins, Mike Vrabel, Deion Branch or a number of other players, the team either turned the players into draft picks or walked away without getting stuck in a bad contract. Just the fact that they would approach Tom Brady about accepting a contract that would pay him in the ballpark of $10 million a year is something to appreciate. The Patriots can also be very quietly generous with their players to build that trust with a player who performs. Last season the team reworked the contract of Sebastian Vollmer to give him a better chance of earning incentives in his contract that he missed the year before because of injury. Often they give even their practice squad players a boost in salary at the end of the year. When the time comes to ask players for a pay cut later on, I am sure that these things are remembered. They play a different game than anyone else in the NFL..."

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

And we just proved that no player, not even Jimmy Graham, is bigger than the organization.

What Loomis can do a better job of in the future is turning players into draft picks.

We're not likely to find another Drew Brees so it's more important than ever to build this team from the core out.

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

But he's got to do better in trade negotiations...

In fact, I wonder if we got more because of Ireland...

The Jamaal Brown Trade with Washington...

The Jon Vilma Trade with NYJets...

The Jeremy Shockery Trade with NYGiants...

Needed moves, but Loomis overpaid...

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

True but most of those teams with tons of cap space have to over spend to get free agents to go to their teams, see: Oakland, JAX

I think Loomis learned from the insane contracts he handed out the last couple years to players that once they got paid, didn't play up to what they were being paid to where he will be cautious to just throwing around Benson's money like its going out of style (Graham, Lofton, Gallette).

Re: 'Over the Cap' founder says Saints' salary cap situation made them 'a sinking ship taking on more water'
 

gotta disagree here:
Brown- turned into a tool and wanted out. We got what we could
Vilma- a second rounder for a defensive QB and a leading tackler? Any day of the week
Shockey, well, I'll give you that one to an extent- three solid years, but more flash than substance