Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
By Ross Jackson
Salary cap season in New Orleans is officially here. The NFL announced during the NFL Combine that the league’s salary cap would be $301.2 million per club. With that, the New Orleans Saints now have a clear picture of their overage and what it will take to not only be cap compliant, but what it will take to spend and build their team in free agency.
The Saints’ salary cap overage is expected to fall in the neighborhood of $10 million to $15 million. That’s light for a team that’s managed triple-digit deficits in the past.
While the #Saints currently sit about $44M over the $301.2M salary cap for 2026, relief is soon coming. Once official league cap adjustments are finalized (from incentives, bonuses, and credits), New Orleans should gain $28.745M back per an adjustment to QB Derek Carr’s contract…
— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 1, 2026
Last year, the NFL’s cap number was announced on Feb. 27; the same was true this season. It didn’t take long for the Saints’ first move to become public after that with the restructuring of center Erik McCoy’s contract, which was reported on March 5.
Following that trend this year, the Saints are likely to have already started, or will soon begin, their trimming of the 2026 salary cap.
Restructures will again be the team’s most reliable mechanism to reach compliance. Deals for McCoy ($6.9 million), defensive end Chase Young ($10.9 million), tight end Juwan Johnson ($6.9 million) and running back Alvin Kamara ($8.2 million) could all be quick levers to pull on the way to what should be an active, yet responsible, free agency period.
