New Orleans Saints Nick Fairley Has Best Contract Among NFL Interior Defensive Linemen

Pro Football Focus listed the Top 5 contracts among interior defensive linemen across the entire NFL. Coming in at #1 is the newly acquired Nick Fairley.

With the New Orleans Saints' cap problems well documented over recent years, no one expected the Saints to be able to sign a free agent to a one-year deal. Surely the Saints would have to use lengthy, back-loaded deals to lure free agents to New Orleans.

How dare you question Mickey Loomis! Saints GM Mickey Loomis waved his magic wand and somehow landed DT Nick Fairley on that impossible one year deal, worth a total of 3M (with over half prorated over the course of two years).

PFF notes:

He turned 2015's modest deal into one of the best free-agent values in the league, producing the 17th-best run-stop percentage (9.2) and the 18th-best pass-rushing productivity (6.7) among defensive tackles in limited duty (427 snaps). His run-stop percentage last season was higher than Ndamukong Suh's, despite a salary that was worth roughly one-sixth of the Dolphin's on a per-year basis. Fairley graded positively in all but two of his 15 games last season, tallying 19 total pressures in the process.

The Saints definitely got a bargain, and the rest of the NFL has noticed.