New Orleans Saints Restructure OT Ryan Ramczyk's Contract

The perennially cap-strapped New Orleans Saints have begun their yearly belt-tightening shenanigans. Per ESPN's Field Yates, the team restructured the contract of right tackle Ryan Ramczyk, creating $10.336 million in cap space.

The Saints converted $12.92M of OT Ryan Ramczyk’s base salary into a bonus, creating $10.336M in cap space, as @TomPelissero said.

K Will Lutz also agreed to a re-worked deal, lowering his cap number by $1.5M, per source.

The Saints keep chipping away to get under the cap…
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 23, 2023

The Saints converted $12.92 million of Ramczyk's 2022 base salary into a bonus, spreading the money evenly over the remaining years of his contract. Per overthecap, the move reduces the Saints' 2023 salary cap surplus to a still significant $35.6 million, the second highest in the league. They'll still need to make several transactions to get beneath the $224.8 million limit.

The Saints have led the league in cap gymnastics for years, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to justify in the post-Drew Brees era. Maximizing the present at the expense of the future made sense when the Saints were one of the NFL's elite teams, but after missing the playoffs in consecutive years, it's safe to say the Super Bowl window is officially closed. It may be time to tear the whole thing down and rebuild.