MOBILE, Alabama – General manager Mickey Loomis has acknowledged that this will be a “scary” off-season for the New Orleans Saints, which will likely need to replace Drew Brees as a quarterback and could be close to $ 100 million above the salary cap.
But Loomis made it clear that the Saints will not go into reconstruction mode after winning the last four NFC South titles.
“Listen, we have a great squad. And I can’t foresee a circumstance where we won’t say, ‘Dude, we will do everything we can to win – win now and compete for a championship,'” Loomis said during a video conference with the media while participating of the Senior Bowl.
He didn’t go into too much detail, saying that there are still “more unknowns than known” at this point in the calendar, including:
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No official word yet on whether Brees will actually retire, as it takes time to relax with his family after his 20th season.
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No official word on how low the salary cap will fall after the loss of revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The cap could fall to $ 175 million per team after being $ 198.2 million in 2020, although can be taller.
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The Saints have not yet completed their internal player ratings.
So it is too early to say whether the Saints will try to re-sign pending free agents like quarterback Jameis Winston, safety Marcus Williams, defensive side Trey Hendrickson, defensive striker Sheldon Rankins and right side Jared Cook – or if they could enter the market for an expensive QB like Matthew Stafford or any other that becomes available via negotiation.
“This whole assessment and what happens to it is yet to be seen,” said Loomis. “Do we like [quarterback Taysom Hill]. We like Jameis. We like what they did for us. But, as with any position, we will have a lot of discussion in the next few weeks or two. “
The Saints are currently projected to have $ 277.8 million in cap salary charges for 2021 with just 43 salaries on the list, according to the ESPN List Management System. However, they could save at least $ 13.5 million in capitalization space – and possibly more – if Brees retires. And they have been one of the NFL’s most aggressive teams for years when it comes to pushing maximum costs into future seasons. Therefore, they can continue to do so if they want to keep as much of the current list as possible.
For years, it looked like the Saints would “reach” the salary cap and perhaps go into reconstruction mode whenever Brees retired. But then they reloaded a champion caliber squad around him with incredible draft classes in 2016 and 2017 that included stars like receiver Michael Thomas, running back Alvin Kamara, cornerback Marshon Lattimore, striker Ryan Ramczyk, Williams, Hendrickson and Rankins.
An important decision that the Saints must face is whether they wish to extend the pending free agents to 2022, such as Lattimore, Hill and the offensive tackles Ramczyk and Terron Armstead. Another would be whether they would consider any blockbuster negotiations to free up space and add draft choices, as they did with stars Jimmy Graham and Brandin Cooks in the past.
“Look, it will definitely be a challenge,” said Loomis of the salary cap. “And yet, I don’t want to speculate on how challenging it will be until we have a better understanding of what will be available – not just for this year, but even for the year to come. So I can’t really answer that question other than saying, yes, it will be scary. I think it will be scary for most teams in our league. “