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Friday was by far the wildest free agency day in the Sean Payton/Mickey Loomis era. We must start off with the signing of CB Brandon Browner, who we signed the day before. Brandon' s deal is as follows:
Brandon Browner signed a 3 year / $15,000,000 contract with the New Orleans Saints, including a $3,900,000 signing bonus, $7,750,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $5,000,000.
| CONTRACT:3 yr(s) / $15,000,000 | SIGNING BONUS$3,900,000 | AVERAGE SALARY$5,000,000 | GUARANTEED:$7,750,000 | FREE AGENT:2018 / UFA |
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So the Saints cap hit for Brandon Browner for 2015 is $2.4 mil.
We also signed Ramon Humber to a $2.085 mil deal on March 12th.
Ramon Humber signed a 2 year / $2,085,000 contract with the New Orleans Saints, including a $334,000 signing bonus, $334,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $1,042,500.
| CONTRACT:2 yr(s) / $2,085,000 | SIGNING BONUS$334,000 | AVERAGE SALARY$1,042,500 | GUARANTEED:$334,000 | FREE AGENT:2017 / UFA |
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We traded Ben Grubbs to the Chiefs for a 5th round pick clearing off his 2015 and 2016 base salaries leaving a one time cap hit of $6 mil on the books for 2015. Ben's 2015 base salary was $6.6 mil for 2015. Ben Grubbs was asked by the team to take a pay cut and refused so was traded.
.@ProFootballTalk says the Saints asked Grubbs to reduce his money from $6.6M to $4.5M. He still gets $6.6 from KC
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) March 14, 2015
Starting the flurry of activity on Friday was the surprising trade of Kenny Stills to the Dolphins for LBer Dannell Ellerbe and a 3rd round pick in the 2015 draft. This was surprising for several reasons. One being that Stills was a productive member of the receiving corps, and he was very cheap. Kenny's contract through 2016 only cost $1.26 mil. For 2015 Stills leaves only his signing bonus of $97,226 on the books.
Ellerbe on the other hand could be coming with a hefty price tag. I say could be because it was said that he had to agree to a pay cut for the deal to be done.
Meanwhile, new #Saints LB Dannell Ellerbe has agreed to restructure his contract after his trade from Miami. Will help NO cap situation
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 13, 2015
Without a restructure of Ellerbe's contract the Saints would be around $4 mil over the cap and we all know the team has to remain under the cap with all transactions. Thus the next move helped clear some more space.
Corey White was released saving a little over $1.5 mil in cap and after his disastrous 2014 season came as no surprise.
Of further cap significance was the reported signing of C. J. Spiller.
Spiller's deal is reported to be a 4 year deal worth $18 mil. Includes a $5 mil signing bonus with $9 mil of that guaranteed. That averages out to $4.5 mil a year. His cap hit for 2015 is likely to be much smaller pushing his cap hit down the road. He also carried a release clause for the fourth year based on performance. By my best calculations, his cap hit for 2015 would be around $3.5 mil for 2015. This transaction has not yet been reported to the NFL or the NFLPA, so this allows the Saints to make more roster moves before Monday. Stay tuned for what I would expect to be another active 2 days.
Spiller will undoubtedly play the role left vacant with the release of fan favorite Pierre Thomas. The biggest surprise here is that his contract is for a higher cost than Mark Ingram.
Here is a review of Mark's contract:
Mark Ingram signed a 4 year / $16,000,000 contract with the New Orleans Saints, including a $3,600,000 signing bonus, $7,600,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $4,000,000.
| CONTRACT:4 yr(s) / $16,000,000 | SIGNING BONUS$3,600,000 | AVERAGE SALARY$4,000,000 | GUARANTEED:$7,600,000 | FREE AGENT:2019 / UFA |
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Prime candidate for a pay cut would be guard Jahri Evans. Jahri's base salary for 2015 is $6.8 mi and his total cap hit is $11 mil. The team was reported earlier to have spoken with Evans wishing to restructure his contract or they would be forced to release him. From his twitter account it appears Evans has been on vacation in Rome and the Holy City, (note: correction here thanks to Drunkwino), but I'm sure his agent has been in contact with the team.
standing under the Cupola #Papal Basilica of St. Peter pic.twitter.com/gANNf4W5On
— JAHRI EVANS (@J_7TRE_E) March 10, 2015
Stay tuned, I'll update the cap figures as they become available.
One further significant factor yet to be mentioned is the rookie cap pool. With all the extra draft picks the team has acquired this figure has risen as well. From roughly $5.5 mil to begin with it has gone up to be about $7,087,403.
We now have 9 picks and can view them in Dave's post, Updated Saints NFL Draft 2015 Picks.
Also you might might to wish to visit the Falcoholic's post, Considering the New Orleans Saints offseason to view the enemies view on all this.
Our current cap picture as per Spotrac, which doesn't reflect the unknowns like the Ellerbe contract restructure nor the 2015 cap liability for C. J. Spiller.
2015 Cap Totals
| CAP TYPE | BASE SALARY | SIGNING BONUS | ROSTER BONUS | OPTION BONUS | WORKOUT BONUS | RESTRUC. BONUS | INCENTIVES | CAP TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 NFL Salary Cap | $143,280,000 | ||||||||
| 2014 Rollover Cap | $1,710,130 | ||||||||
| Adjustment | $102,300 | ||||||||
| Adjusted Salary Cap | $145,092,430 | ||||||||
| All Active Contracts | $93,536,664 | $26,528,459 | $4,315,000 | $750,000 | $1,507,500 | $8,712,500 | - | $133,815,123 | |
| Top 51 Contracts | $87,431,664 | $26,522,959 | $4,315,000 | $750,000 | $1,507,500 | $8,712,500 | - | $127,710,123 | |
| Draft Pool | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | $7,087,403 | |
| Dead Money | - | $16,646,003 | - | $5,000,000 | - | - | - | $21,646,003 | |
| Total (w/All Active) | $93,536,664 | $43,174,462 | $4,315,000 | $5,750,000 | $1,507,500 | $8,712,500 | - | $155,461,126 | |
| Total (w/Top 51) | $87,431,664 | $43,168,962 | $4,315,000 | $5,750,000 | $1,507,500 | $8,712,500 | - | $149,356,126 | |
| Cap Space (w/Top 51 & Projected Draft Pool) | $-11,351,099 | ||||||||
| Cap Space (w/Top 51) | $-4,263,696 | ||||||||
Also let me mention this fact. With all the moves thus far, the Saints have about $34 mil in cap space for 2016. This leads to speculation of what the team is looking to do next year. I'll just throw this out there. Drew Brees' final cap year hit if released in 2016 would only be $7.5 mil.