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Dead Money & Winning/Losing Cultures

The Saints currently lead the ENTIRE NFL in dead money, at $40,405,183. Next up in second place is the Cleveland Browns at $28,385,236, followed by the Eagles at $22,771,484, the Falcons at $21,351,290, and the Lions at $17,693,872.

So keep in mind -- the second place "dead money" team, has less than 75% of the dead money that the Saints have, and the Falcons in fourth place are much closer to roughly only 50% of the dead money that the Saints have. And everyone else is waaay down from even that.

For those who may not know, "dead money" refers to money under the NFL salary cap that is money that can't be spent because it was paid to a player who is no longer on the team. It is the penalty for teams paying players up front.

Question: are these the teams that we want to be keeping company with? Do they share the winning culture and winning ethos that the Saints are *supposed* to have? Are the Browns known for their roster moves, sharp general managers, and deep talent? Or are they a laughing stock of the league? What about the Eagles and Falcons? How are they regarded, and how are their typical records, year in and year out recently?

I also picked some random teams that most people generally seem to think are pretty good. How does their dead money situation look?

Patriots - $11,920,902
Panthers - $9,422,199
Steelers - $9,357,135
Seahawks - $9,201,408
Cardinals - $3,752,606
Denver - $10,920,718

The Patriots, whom most people admire, have about a quarter of the dead money that the Saints have. The Panthers and Steelers have even less. Every one of these teams has beaten us at some point in the past few years.

In fact, all four teams who played in the NFC/AFC championship games last year, have less dead money combined, when all four are added together, than the Saints.

Their salary money is going to players actually on the field each week. . Do you think that gives them a competitive advantage, at all ?

The Raiders, who defeated the Saints on Sunday by scoring 22 points in a single quarter, had $4,129,983 in dead money. That is 1/10th the amount of dead money that the Saints have. They also had injuries to their offensive line, just like we have had injuries to our secondary, they had second string guys in there, filling in, plugging holes, but somehow -- for whatever reason -- their team managed to plug in guys and keep going, without the whole game plan falling apart.

Just wondering what people thought. Is there a correlation between the dead money we are paying for players not on the field, and what we see with our eyes in the games? Or are we not supposed to be concerned about it?

Thoughts?

NFL Salary Cap Space | Over The Cap