2026 Offseason Preview: New Orleans
The New Orleans Saints closed out the 2025 season on a strong note
statbutler.com will be compiling offseason previews for all 32 teams in the lead up to free agency. Feel free to share any of the text/visuals below with attribution. All underlying contract data was collected by overthecap.com.
Recent Team History
New Orleans missed the playoffs for the 5th straight season in 2025, but their 6-11 record produced more real optimism than many have had about the team in several years.
2025 Season
The Saints finished 2025 on a tear. They covered in 7 of their last 8. After their Week 11 bye, New Orleans had the 4th best EPA/play on defense. The offense surged behind rookie QB Tyler Shough. To be fair, this team had a major tailwind from the ease of their schedule down the stretch. After falling 34-10 to the L.A. Rams in Week 9, New Orleans faced exclusively teams that had an offense and defense at or near the bottom half of the league. This team will be in the rare category of missing the playoffs without changing their head coach, coordinators, general manager, or starting QB.
Returning Players
Note that all restructures below are assumed to be max restructures. This means that the team will use void years to prorate cash across up to five seasons, minimizing amount that will hit the current year’s salary cap.
For players who are not vested veterans, I’ve replaced information about the player’s active contract with a description of the team control remaining until the player can become an unrestricted free agent.
When your offense finds a player it can rely on at quarterback, the rest falls into place far more easily. For New Orleans, the offensive line isn’t great, but they could potentially get by with what they have. Veteran Cesar Ruiz had a disappointing 2025 and Erik McCoy once again missed significant time with injury. Kelvin Banks had a great rookie year at tackle and while partner Taliese Fuaga did not perform as well, he’s still in the range of startable. New Orleans will have a busy running back room as I expect they’ll soon replace Alvin Kamara.
Look for this offense to make most of their gains by adding pass catchers this offseason. I liked the addition of Devaughn Vele, but he was probably just a little late to be fully integrated into the offense in 2025. Chris Olave remains top dog and will be due an extension very soon. Jawan Johnson can provide support as well, but a starting caliber receiver is probably in the cards.
The defense powered an impressive close to the season in 2025. Looking to 2026, this is a group that could badly use an injection of young talent, before even considering key veterans who are not under contract. New Orleans had a solid coverage unit on the whole last season despite losing key contributors in Tyrann Mathieu and Paulson Adebo. They’ll look to keep that rolling with much of the same group, especially Kool-Aid McKinstry. The defensive line and linebackers are not in poor shape, but each are in need of at least on more starter.
Expiring Contracts
Even with Alontae Taylor entering free agency with a decent crop of fellow corners, I suspect his versatility may carve out enough of a market that New Orleans lets him walk, much in the same way they let Adebo walk last offseason. The only other two players that I suspect the Saints have circled here are Cameron Jordan and Demario Davis. Both due to turn 37 next year, retirement is likely a serious consideration. From the club standpoint, their soon to void contracts represent modest potential cap savings. If either one wants to play, it would be a no brainer for New Orleans to make them a one year offer prior to their March 10th void dates.
Still in “Cap Hell”?
The Saints annual tradition of appearing to be over the salary cap, only to perform half a dozen obvious restructures has been going on for years. I’ve grown to see it as an exercise that is more carefully planned than most give it credit for, but still not a good place to be as an average-to-bad team. Given that the Saints now have a serious prospect at QB and are only narrowly over the cap, are they free from “Cap Hell”?
I would argue not entirely. I define “Cap Hell” pretty narrowly as a team that is forced to consider the cap implications of a cut/trade/extension/re-sign rather than just the cash implications. Looking only at the cash owed in the current year (plus any future guarantees) should be sufficient to evaluate whether a move for a player makes sense for a team. “Cap Hell” starts whenever a team’s cap situation limits them from spending or moving cash in the same way a team with a wide open cap situation might.
To make this more real, I mentioned above that Cam Jordan & Demario Davis could accept one year deals with New Orleans prior to their void dates. Doing so would allow the Saints more cap freedom. If the camps of these players are able to use the Saints cap situation to exact any leverage at all, I would call that “Cap Hell”. If they couldn’t add additional pressure to Tennessee or Las Vegas or Washington (teams with plenty of cap space) if the contract were being negotiated with them, then your cap situation has potentially cost additional cash.
Projected Cuts & Options
I have just one cut being made by New Orleans, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see more. I believe RB Alvin Kamara, who will be 31 next year, will either be cut or renegotiate the final year of his contract. He’s due to earn $8.5m of non-guaranteed cash in 2026. With the Saints current crop of backs (Kendre Miller, Devin Neal, Audric Estime), I believe the groundwork for Kamara’s exit has already been made.
The Saints could exercise the 5th year option on DT Bryan Bresee for 2027 this offseason. I do not expect them to do it.
The Salary Cap
In the image below, each blue bordered rectangle is equivalent to the cap hit of a single player. Within that rectangle, there are more rectangles that break down the player’s cap hit. Areas colored green can be pushed entirely into a future cap years via max restructure. Areas with vertical bars are “locked in” and the team cannot open them up by releasing the player. They represent either fully guaranteed cash that hasn’t been earned yet or remaining proration from cash earned in previous league years.
Before any moves have been made, the Saints current roster is only projected to be about $8m over the salary cap. Just taking restructures on guaranteed cash alone should get them far enough under that number that they’ll be able to operate freely.
In the breakdown above, I’m assuming New Orleans will take every possible max restructure (they won’t, but they may leave the option open), cut Kamara, and allow the contracts of Jordan, Davis, and Taysom Hill to void. That leaves them with $37m in “Excess Cap Space” (29th) to be used for extensions, free agents, and trades. If Cam Jordan signs before his void date, I’d say that’ll add another $8m or so. Davis could tack $7m on to that. In terms of planned cash spending at this point, I have New Orleans under $200m with only six other clubs, most of whom have $100m+ in excess space. This paradox is a consequence of overspending from prior seasons.
Draft Capital
New Orleans holds a pick in each of the first six rounds plus an extra in 4th & 5th. The 4th is a projected compensatory pick by OverTheCap and has yet to be confirmed. The Saints first pick will be #8. My trade based model gives them the 10th most valuable collection of picks in this draft.