As things currently stand, the Saints are over the 2024 salary cap, and Tyrann Mathieu is slated to cost more than $12 million in cap space this year. But that’s likely to change soon.
The Saints and Mathieu are working on a renegotiated contract and expect to have it done soon, according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football.
Because of the way his contract is structured, cutting Mathieu would only save the Saints about $1.7 million in cap space this year. But reworking his contract can result in greater cap savings this year — at the expense of a bigger cap charge next year.
That’s the approach the Saints have been taking for years, pushing cap hits into future seasons to get under the cap during the current season. It can work as a short-term stopgap, but for a Saints team that has missed the playoffs three straight years, it hamstrings their ability to build for the long-term.
