Saints’ biggest salary cap hits entering 2022 season
There isn’t a team willing to do more to work around the salary cap than the New Orleans Saints. They often stretch the limits of what’s possible within the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement through creative (and often unorthodox) contract structures and restructures, maximizing their resources to field the most competitive team possible year in and year out. It’s what got them from being in the red by more than $70 million to cruising towards training camp with about $10 million to spend, having landed big free agent additions like Tyrann Mathieu and Jarvis Landry along the way.
Still, it’s jarring to see so many high-profile players listed with pedestrian salary cap hits, even knowing how the Saints got here. It’s important to remember that this is just the final accounting number for this fiscal year; most players are actually earning more than what’s listed on the books thanks to past restructures which converted hefty base salaries into signing bonuses. They still got their money, it’s just paid out differently, and in a way that keeps the Saints’ salary cap commitments more manageable — for now, at least. New Orleans will have more hurdles to cross in the future, but that’s a problem for another day. And it’s worth remembering how the Saints have kept working around it so far.
With that said: here are the 22 Saints players carrying salary cap hits valued at more than $3 million for 2022 (all contract numbers via Over The Cap):
WR Michael Thomas: $13,048,000
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, Pool
DE Cameron Jordan: $12,427,838
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
CB Marshon Lattimore: $8,999,317
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
RT Ryan Ramczyk: $8,476,321
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
LG Andrus Peat: $7,666,000
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
DT David Onyemata: $6,748,556
AP Photo/Derick Hingle
RB Alvin Kamara: $6,128,000
Max Becherer/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP
LB Demario Davis: $5,896,000
AP Photo/Derick Hingle
K Wil Lutz: $5,570,000
David Grunfeld/The Advocate via AP, Pool
TE/QB Taysom Hill: $5,125,000
AP Photo/Derick Hingle
S Malcolm Jenkins: $5,070,000*
AP Photo/Derick Hingle
Jenkins retired from pro football earlier this offseason after reducing his base salary to the league minimum, and the Saints are likely to process his contract as a post-June 1 cut just like they did with Drew Brees when he hung it up a few years back. This would save $1.12 million against the salary cap this year while lowering his cap hit to $3.95 million in both 2022 and 2023 (as that is what’s left over from his prorated signing bonus).
QB Jameis Winston: $4,000,000
Max Becherer/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP
WR Deonte Harty: $3,986,000
AP Photo/Derick Hingle
WR Chris Olave: $3,503,977
Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
RG Cesar Ruiz: $3,457,963
AP Photo/Derick Hingle
C Erik McCoy: $3,402,378
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
S Tyrann Mathieu: $3,400,000
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
OL James Hurst: $3,381,000
AP Photo/Derick Hingle
TE Nick Vannett: $3,300,000
AP Photo/Derick Hingle
DE Marcus Davenport: $3,009,447
AP Photo/Derick Hingle
WR Jarvis Landry: $3,000,000
AP Photo/Gregory Payan
QB Andy Dalton: $3,000,000
Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
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