It is no secret the New Orleans Saints are trying to bounce back from a pair of seven-win seasons without the kind of salary cap space that would allow for a traditional quick turnaround. Rather than pursuing major free agents, the Saints are saving money wherever and however they can, though Drew Brees' pending extension has something to do with that.
But many NFL teams would love a quarterback like Brees eating up so much of their salary cap, so the Saints are focusing their penny-pinching elsewhere. Their latest tactic to create some wiggle room entailed some re-appropriation of the money they promised to running back Mark Ingram.
The Saints are expected to lower Ingram's base salary from $3 million to $765,000, "converting" the remaining $2.235 million to a signing bonus. The re-classification will free up about $1.5 million in cap space, raising their cap space to about $3.6 million.
Source: the Saints converted $2.235M of RB Mark Ingram's $3M base salary for 2016 into a signing bonus, creating $1.49M of cap space.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 30, 2016
The Saints took the same approach with defensive end Cameron Jordan and punter Thomas Morstead's contracts. The team's cap space was as low as $273,000 as recently as last week. The team has strategically created cap space even after signing linebacker James Laurinaitis and coming to an agreement with defensive tackle Nick Fairley.
Even the Saints' deal with Fairley is an obvious money-saving tactic. They signed him to a three-year deal that voids if he is on their roster come next February in order to lessen his salary cap hit this season. Fairley will essentially be a stopgap for the Saints, who are looking to toughen up on defense.
With six games on their schedule every year facing Matt Ryan, Jameis Winston and Cam Newton at quarterback, the Saints will want to focus on their defensive line. Fairley could well re-sign, but he also might be insurance in case they are not able to draft a defensive lineman they are currently targeting.
That could be Shaq Lawson out of Clemson, though he may not be guaranteed to fall to them. Another possibility is Robert Nkemdiche out of Ole Miss. Nkemdiche is a freakish athlete for a defensive tackle and his talent is undeniable. However, Nkemdiche has not interviewed well and has not been able to shake the dreaded "off-field issues" phrase being attached to him. Though he may fall to the Saints, the Saints may not want to take him on during a rebuild, minor though it may be.
If the Saints are going to be competitive, it will be because of their offense, and Ingram is an important piece. He has rushed for 1,733 yards over the last two season and has averaged about 4.5 yards per carry over the last three seasons.
