Saints Star-Studded Picks Raised Eyebrows

The New Orleans Saints have turned heads this offseason so far.

It certainly seemed like the Saints would rebuild this offseason after a tough year and then the hiring of Kellen Moore as the team’s head coach. But, New Orleans went in a different direction and that’s what has surprised people. ESPN's Seth Walder even said the addition of Justin Reid and re-signing of Chase Young "did not fit that mold" in reference to spending money on players who can help for years to come.

"Many of their moves did not fit that mold," Walder said. "The Saints signed edge rusher Chase Young to a $17 million per year deal that I fear was partially made to avoid a dead cap bill if Young wasn't on the team. I consider myself to be a Young defender (he has posted an above-average 19% pass rush win rate twice in the past four seasons), but that's a hearty amount of money for a bad team with no money to pay a decent pass rusher.

"Safety Justin Reid is sort of a similar story, though signing Reid to a $10.5 million per year deal is totally fine in a vacuum -- probably even good. But the Saints aren't in a vacuum. Paying tight end Juwan Johnson more than $10 million per year and more than $21 million fully guaranteed feels like too much."

New Orleans' offseason has come somewhat as a surprise. There was a time in which the Saints had the least cap space in the league and was actually at around -$50 million in cap space. New Orleans restructured deals, freed up case, and pushed some financial troubles into the future to compete right now. The retirement of Derek Carr actually is somewhat of a golden parachute as now, New Orleans' long-term cap outlook is significantly different than initially expected. The moves were somewhat surprising at the time, though.

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