The Saints have a long road to becoming salary cap compliant for 2024 but they have made their their big move since the last week of the regular season with 2024 in mind- restructuring the contract of QB Derek Carr for salary cap relief, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

The Saints likely converted the maximum ($28.79 million) of Carr’s $30 million salary to a bonus which would reduce his salary cap number by $23.032 million, going from $35.7 million down to $12.67 million. The move will increase Carr’s future salary cap numbers by about $5.76 million per season. Carr’s 2025 salary cap figure is now $51.46 million, 5th highest in the NFL.

His dead money in 2025 now sits at $40.132 million an increase of $23 million from where it originally was. While this certainly does not guarantee him a roster spot in 2025 it will give him a much better chance of maintaining his status as starting QB even if he plays at an average or slightly below average level in 2024.

Since the end of the year the Saints have created a total of $37.513 million in 2024 cap room. In addition to the $23 million from Carr, they have saved $7.18 million with a restructure of Erik McCoy’s contract and deferred $7.3 million to 2025 with a change in effective void date of Jameis Winston’s contract. The Saints are still an estimated $53 million over the salary cap. They rank 31st in estimated cap room ahead of only the Buffalo Bills at a projected $55 million over.