Jul 27, 2022; Metairie, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and president Dennis Lauscha during training camp at Ochsner Sports Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
By Ross Jackson
The annual cycle of New Orleans Saints salary cap gymnastics may look a bit different in 2026 than it has of late.
The Saints have made some wise financial decisions in recent years, not overinvesting in veteran talent and stockpiling funds to aid them in their future pursuits. Not to mention getting $30 million back from former starting quarterback Derek Carr.
New Orleans has consistently been over the salary cap by tens of millions of dollars as the new league years have approached. Overages have eclipsed $100 million in the recent past. But now, the team is in a much better place headed into 2025.
Per the NFLPA’s public salary cap report, the Saints are currently $23 million under the cap. Per OverTheCap.com, they sit with a surplus of more than $29 million. In either case, New Orleans is set to be in its best cap situation in many years going into 2026, as unused funds from this year can be rolled over into the next.
Over The Cap also lists the Saints as just $24 million over the limit for 2026 thanks to Carr’s retirement having been processed and his dead cap number for next year reducing drastically. Now, New Orleans could roll over a bulk of what it has available this year in order to raise its ceiling next offseason.
The league’s salary cap could also increase higher than the currently projected $295.5 million.
There will likely be some dead cap numbers that still chew away at next year’s funds, especially if there are any departing veterans with guaranteed money left on void or future years. But, the Saints are set to be in a much healthier salary cap environment next season than they have been in years.
That should set up year two of head coach Kellen Moore and his staff with a real chance to keep working on assembling their desired roster and could put the Saints in a situation to capitalize on any momentum the team builds with its performance in 2025.
New Orleans could prove to be on its way to being a competitive team that players on the market deem a viable option for themselves and then have the money to make the option a bit more hard to resist.
