Looking at potential veteran free agents and other offseason questions

With the 2020 NFL season officially in the books, the New Orleans Saints can now look ahead to the 2021 offseason. With that in mind, there are plenty of questions about what the Saints will be do this offseason in preparation for the 2021 season. There might be more questions than answers right now, so we took a few of your pressing questions off Twitter in this week’s CSC Mailbag:

In 2021? No, I don’t think so.

Peat has an “out” in his contract after the 2022 season, but otherwise the Saints are on the hook for approximately $26 million the next two seasons. Considering all other 31 teams saw the same game film on Peat that Saints fans saw last season, I doubt many teams are climbing over themselves to take on Peat’s contract.

As Nick Underhill explained in more detail at NewOrleans.football, not only will the team likely have to keep Peat for the 2021 season, but the Saints might be forced to spread his cap hit down the road for cap relief this offseason, tying the Saints and Peat together for the foreseeable future.

Per sources, the Saints front office was super high on Peat last offseason despite Peat’s struggles in 2019, believing Peat’s issues down the stretch were largely due to injuries rather than outright poor performance. Peat was explicitly called out by Coach Payton during the season last year, but the Saints are only a year removed from signing Peat to a five-year contract, so I’m sure they’ll use at least this season to see what they have.

It depends on who you mean by “well-liked.” I think it’s almost a certainty that Malcom Brown is released to free up approximately $5 million in 2021 cap space.

But that’s not necessarily a “guess” by any means, and it’s not a player I’d call “well-liked” by Saints fans. Instead, I’ll make a guess of a player who gets released by referencing another question that was asked in our mailbag:

I could absolutely see Thomas Morstead a cap casualty this offseason, as the move would free up $2.5 million in 2021 cap space and the Saints have a potential replacement already on the roster. If you’re looking for my guess at a player whose release could surprise and disappoint Saints fans this offseason, my guess would be Morstead.

The Saints were trying out kickers late in the season last year, so if Lutz struggles early in training camp or the preseason, it’s definitely possible the Saints kick the tires on possible replacements. But I, like the Saints front office, am holding out hope that Lutz rebounds and rights the ship in 2021.

This is not reporting interest by any means, as most of what the Saints front office is doing right now is reconnaissance with their own free agents and gauging the market for who either already is available or who may become available down the road.

But based purely off of price points and position fits, here are some names to keep an eye on depending on what happens with the Saints pending free agents:

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Josh Reynolds, Indianapolis Colts safety Malik Hooker, Baltimore Ravens defensive end Tyus Bowser, Tennessee Titans linebacker Jayon Brown, Los Angeles Raiders wide receiver Nelson Agholor, and Pittsburgh Steelers guard Matt Feiler.

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