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Earlier tonight I tweeted a depressing stat about the Saints' 27-22 loss to the Panthers Sunday. Really, a depressing stat about the current state of the Saints roster, salary cap, and management. I thought it was worth it's own post and not just a tweet/FanShot.
In short, the Saints used more than half of their 2015 salary cap on players who weren't even active for the teams Week 3 loss to the Panthers. Or, to put it another way, the Saints could use only half their total salary cap to field a team against the Panthers. That doesn't sound like a great position to be in, does it?
The official 2015 NFL salary cap number is $143.28 million. Here are the startling figures I discovered...
Total salary of injured players who did not play vs. Panthers: $45,300,000
Total salary of players no longer on the Saints roster (dead money): $30,897,305
Total cost of players who did not play vs. Panthers: $76,197,305
Percentage of total 2015 salary cap spent on players who did not play vs. Panthers: 53.2%
This is a fluctuating figure based on the health of the players still on the roster, of course. As soon as guys like Jairus Byrd, Keenan Lewis, and Jahri Evans get healthy, the numbers don't look so bleak. Obviously, Drew Brees' salary is a large part of these numbers so when he returns the figures change dramatically. But even in that case, the Saints still could have anywhere around 33% of their total cap spending not on the football field.
Injuries are one thing. They can't be avoided and they're part of the game. But the dead money figure is maddening to fans. In fact, I believe they have more dead money on the books than any other team in the NFL. That's the price you've just got to pay if you want to clean house in the offseason - the result of poor drafting and foolish contracts.
In case you're curious to know how I arrived at these figures, below is a breakdown. These salary figures come courtesy of Over the Cap.
Salary of players currently on the roster who were injured vs. Panthers:
| Drew Brees | $26,400,000 |
| Jahri Evans | $7,000,000 |
| Jairus Byrd | $5,500,000 |
| Keenan Lewis | $4,500,000 |
| Dannell Ellerbe | $1,900,000 |
| Total | $45,300,000 |
Players no longer on the roster but counting against the salary cap (dead money):
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