Terron Armstead restructures contract, gets Saints to the salary cap finish line
All-Pro left tackle Terron Armstead restructured his contract to open up more New Orleans Saints salary cap space, ensuring cap compliance before the start of the new league year. The move was first reported by ESPN’s Mike Triplett, and was confirmed by the Athletic’s Katherine Terrell, who added that it saves roughly $6.7 million against the cap.
That should be enough to push New Orleans across the finish line. They were only about $6 million over the cap (set at $186.6 million for them, accounting for unspent rollover from last year on top of the NFL-wide $182.5 million cap) to begin with, so they’re finally out of the red. More moves will come to create spending room, but the Saints won’t be hearing any noise from the league office about reaching cap compliance.
It took some impressive gymnastics to get here. The Saints released a group of expensive veterans like linebacker Kwon Alexander, cornerback Janoris Jenkins, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, offensive guard Nick Easton, punter Thomas Morstead, and co-starter tight ends Josh Hill and Jared Cook while also saying goodbye to Drew Brees upon his retirement.
But the core of the team is intact. Armstead is still anchoring one end of the line with Ryan Ramczyk holding down the right tackle spot. Cornerback Marshon Lattimore is joined in the secondary by franchise tagged free safety Marcus Williams. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill made a keen observation: now that the Saints are cap compliant, they can approach each of those players for contract extensions without needing their help to get under the cap, gaining more leverage. In effect, it’s like fixing your credit score before seeking a big new loan.
And that’s just the group of players owed new deals. The Saints already have fixtures like Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, Demario Davis, Cameron Jordan, and Malcolm Jenkins under contract for the foreseeable future, with both of their promising quarterbacks signed for 2021 now that Jameis Winston has returned to battle Taysom Hill for the starting job.
It’s hardly the doom and gloom “cap hell” analysts forecasted in recent months (and that they’ve been calling for nearly a decade now). Now, that’s not downplaying the problems on the roster; the Saints don’t have a sure thing at quarterback yet, and there are vacancies at cornerback, linebacker, and receiver that need filling, too. There’s plenty of work to be done. But with their housekeeping accomplished, now they can start addressing those issues.
