Loomis: Saints face daunting salary cap issues but not in rebuilding mode

Acknowledging that the offseason will be “daunting,” New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said Wednesday that the team could be close to $100 million over the salary cap.

The Saints are faced with difficult decisions concerning pending free agents, including quarterback Jameis Winston, along with Sheldon Rankins, Trey Hendrickson, Jared Cook, Marcus Williams, P.J. Williams, J.T. Gray, Alex Anzalone and others.

Hendrickson is coming off of a career season, tying for second in the league in sacks with 13.5 but he will command a lot of attention on the open market and could prove to be costly, if not too costly for the Saints, considering their precarious cap position. Loomis admitted that he would like to keep Hendrickson but acknowledged that it will cost money and that he will attract interest from other teams.

“Certainly, we would want him (Hendrickson) back but I can’t really say how strong a play we can make until I understand where the cap is going to be this year,” Loomis said.

Clearly, the Saints can save significant dollars if Drew Brees retires, as he is expected to. Brees has not made his decision public yet and will likely not do so until after the Super Bowl.

Should Brees retire, the Saints could save anywhere from $13-15 million in cap space if Brees opts to call it a day in the NFL.

“For sure, it’s going to be challenging,” Loomis said. “I don’t want to speculate as to how challenging it’s going to be until we have a better understanding of what’s going to be available—not just for this year, but even for the year after. It’s going to be daunting. I think it’s going to be daunting for a majority of teams in our league.”

Loomis and Sean Payton are still going through their postseason player evaluations.

Loomis did say that the Saints like Winston and like Taysom Hill, saying, “we liked what they did for us but like any position, we’re going to have a lot of discussion over the next week or two.”

He did not address life beyond Brees or the possibility of adding a veteran quarterback via trade such as Matt Stafford or Deshaun Watson or possibly investing in a quarterback early in the 2021 NFL Draft. Loomis did say there were a number of good quarterbacks in the draft.

The decisions made this offseason will certainly lend themselves to difficult financial decisions to be made after the 2021 season when the organization must decide whether to extend and pay pending free agent stars, including Marshon Lattimore and Ryan Ramczyk and possibly Terron Armstead and Emmanuel Sanders.

New Orleans must also find a way to deal with big ticket items in Michael Thomas, Kwon Alexander and Janoris Jenkins, among others, who are under contract for more than one more season at significant costs.

While the mood surrounding the team is a bit dark following a very disappointing ending to the 2020 season of “Super Bowl or bust,” Loomis cast light on the situation, saying the Saints are not in a rebuilding mode but are intent on remaining a championship contender and defending their succession of 4-time NFC South titles in 2021.

“Listen, we’ve got a great roster,” Loomis said. “I can’t foresee a circumstance where we’re not going to say, ‘man, we’re going to do everything we can to win now and compete for a championship.”

Loomis said he expects the Saints to receive a pair of compensatory picks for the Falcons hiring Terry Fontenot as general manager.