Strief deal was $8.5 million guaranteed. $20.4 million over 5 years. First year cap hit is $2 million. Saints should be up about 300K on the salary cap after PT restructure, Humber and Strief signings. Bunkley being a June 1st cut is almost assured. Only way to sign our rookie pool.
Keenan Lewis restructured his contract. Will clear $1.2 million in cap space this year and a million next year.
This year is not the problem, next year is. Brees' cap hit alone is $26m, so he'll definitely need to restructure. (And restructuring doesn't mean he's getting paid less. He'll see every dime of his money). Evans, Colston, Byrd, Grubbs, and Lofton are all in the $10m range (give or take). Just those 6 players alone take up over $75m. As much of a wizard as Loomis is, he's going to need to get really creative or there will be a lot more cap casualties.
Of the players that you mentioned, Colston, Grubbs, Lofton are all expendable and I'm sure Loomis sees it the same way. Evans and Byrd are worth holding on to.
I agree, for the most part. The only one I'm on the fence about is Lofton. We're already thin at LB anyway. I guess alot determines on how he plays this year. I could see us restructuring his contract instead of outright releasing him.
