By Ross Jackson
The current salary cap projections for 2026 leave the Saints between $19-27 million over the cap limit going into the offseason. For most organizations, that would be seen as a heavy overage. But for New Orleans, it’s small potatoes.
The Saints have combated $100-plus million overages, $70-plus million overages and $50-plus million overages in previous years. Being a midpoint of $24 million over the limit is light work for general manager Mickey Loomis and cap guru Khai Harley.
In fact, keeping the Saints’ usual strategy of borrowing from previous years, it won’t take much at all for the Saints to go from negative cap space to big spenders.
In 2027, the Saints are currently projected to have more than $144 million in available funds with only 36 players currently set to be under contract. But with only the top-51 cap hits counting against the limit during offseasons, the projections will still be positive moving ahead. That gives them some space to borrow from in 2026.
With the projections of between $295-$305 million cap limits for teams in 2026, the Saints are primed to take advantage of some spending potential. But first, they’ll need to clear some room. Here’s how they get cap compliant in just three moves:
- Restructure defensive end Chase Young’s contract – Saves $10.892 million
- Restructure tight end Juwan Johnson’s contact – Saves $6.292 million
- Extend wide receiver Chris Olave – Can save between $8-$9 million
And just like that, New Orleans has opened north of $25 million, earning them cap compliance. Those three moves alone will only get them in the black. They won’t open cap space for the team to go out on a shopping spree. For that, New Orleans would need to make a few more moves.
Re-working the deal of running back Alvin Kamara, re-signing veteran defenders Demario Davis and Cameron Jordan (which would reduce their dead cap accelerations) and addressing contracts of Carl Granderson, Erik McCoy and Cesar Ruiz are all viable ways for the Saints to free up enough space to hit the open market and address needs.
By a simple restructure of each Granderson, McCoy and Ruiz’s deals, New Orleans would open another roughly $21.8 million stash for additional spending. Without touching Ruiz’s deal, that total is still north of $15 million.
If the Saints can get back to their winning ways, the structure plan won’t be as detrimental. With players like Young, Johnson and others being a part of the team’s future plans, their larger restructures are palatable. Elsewhere, the Saints can look to get creative and take some calculated risks where necessary.
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