Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
By Ross Jackson
From having a starting quarterback on a rookie deal to recouping $30 million of cap space from a retiring passer, it’s not a mystery that the New Orleans Saints are in their best salary cap health in many years.
One big shift in the team’s accounting strategy confirms the team’s financial freedom, taking the club’s improving situation from potential to reality. The Saints signed a number of free agents, re-signed pending departure and restructured contracts all without adding additional void years to any deal.
BREAKING: The #Saints have processed 7 free agent contracts, and none of them contain void years.
It’s a new day in New Orleans.
— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 16, 2026
While the NFL world awaits the details of running back Travis Etienne Jr.’s deal, every other move New Orleans made appears to be without the inclusion of this commonly used mechanism for which the Saints had come known.
Adding void years allows teams to put a “ghost year” on a contract that carries no base salary but allows the team to spread out prorated bonuses, such as signing bonuses, for additional years.
For instance, if a player were to have signed a three-year deal that includes a $15 million signing bonus, the $15 million would spread over the life of the contract, amounting to a prorated expense of $5 million per year.
However, teams are allowed to spread those payments over a maximum of five seasons. That gives the front office the option of adding two void years to maximize the payment amount and decrease the yearly expense in the short-term. Therefore the $15 million could be spread over five years for an annual charge of just $3 million per year.
Of course, this straddles a team with two year’s worth of payments that accelerate should the player and team split during the contract or don’t extend or re-sign at the end of it. That amount is called “dead money,” in which the Saints still lead the league for now.
But by not adding more void years to new deals, the Saints are setting themselves up for a continually improving situation.
After years of navigating the salary cap with tens of millions of dollars in overages each year, New Orleans is en route to its best financial situation in recent memory. The benefits of which have already become apparent in 2026, following an eventful start to free agency.
