Salary Cap Impact for Saints After Jimmy Graham Trade

The Saints have traded perennial Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham to the Seattle Seahawks.  They bundled the tight end with a 4th rounder, and in return they got the Hawks' 31st overall pick in the 2015 draft and center Max Unger.

Graham will be due a $5 million roster bonus in addition to his nearly $3 million base salary by the Seahawks. The Saints will save all of that money.  But the Saints will take a $9 million salary cap hit in dead money.

The trade comes just a year after Graham signed an extension with the Saints, after a long offseason battle regarding his position designation. Graham will be paid $13 million by the Saints this year but  will officially be off the Saints' books in 2016. Unger is under contract until 2017, and in 2015 he is due $4.5 million, with roster and signing bonuses already being accounted for by the Seahawks.

This clears approximately another $8.5 million for the Saints for 2015 free agency, raising questions on their plans for the rest of free agency.