Saints restructure Erik McCoy contract, clear $7.36M in cap space

By Ross Jackson

The savings (and therefore spending) continues for the New Orleans Saints. After an uncharacteristically exciting first day of free agency, the Saints pulled one of their remaining levers in order to free up more cap room. 

Per ESPN’s Katherine Terrell, New Orleans restructured the contract of starting center Erik McCoy. 

Not only did the team convert a chunk of McCoy’s base salary ($8.7 million) to a signing bonus, the move includes restructuring his $500,000 roster bonus as well. 

Altogether, the Saints have opened up another $7.36 million in spending room. 

Exactly how much money the Saints now have to spend is uncertain until the contract details of their top signings, running back Travis Etienne,  guard David Edwards, and tight end Noah Fant are announced. That will likely happen when the deals become finalized on Wednesday, at the latest. 

With some high-level free agents still available such as Seattle Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen, New England Patriots edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Juaun Jennings and Atlanta Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss, opening up more cap space could be for the sake of spending now. Otherwise, the Saints are anticipating a need to free space after their first-day spending spree in order to be ready for its draft class and later additions. 

Day two of free agency will pick up momentum quickly, it will be intriguing if the Saints continue their early spending.