What are the salary cap costs of Saints' five retirements this summer?

USA Today

2 days ago

The New Orleans Saints had a series of retirements this offseason. Some were expected. Some weren't. And some were surprisingly meaningful. While veterans like Tyrann Mathieu and Derek Carr will no longer be present on the field, their impact will be felt as the Saints navigate training camp without them. Seeing highly-decorated players like Jimmy Graham and Ryan Ramczyk, who could've been Hall of Famers if not for things outside their control, walking away from the game with unfulfilled potential is tough to accept.
Beyond football, there are financial considerations to each of these retirements. Here are the five former Saints who have retired since the start of the offseason and their dead money salary cap hits, which span through 2026 per the experts at OverTheCap:
QB Derek Carr
2025 dead money: $19,207,000
2026 dead money: $36,674,000
Carr's retirement was quite surprising overall, but it's one that might end up helping the Saints in the long run. His departure gave the front office no choice but to embrace the future and has left a clean slate for new head coach Kellen Moore to build on.
New Orleans signed Carr to a four-year, $150 million deal back before the 2023 season. He ended up playing just two years of that, effectively leaving the last two seasons as dead money. It isn't all of the money, though, so they will end up saving in the long run.
RT Ryan Ramczyk
2025 dead money: $11,083,321
2026 dead money: $11,983,324
On the flip side of Carr, no one was surprised by the fact that Ramczyk had retired as there was no other option for him at that point. He played just 12 games in 2023, missed all of 2024 and just never was able to get past a knee issue.
The 31-year-old had an incredible start to his career and it would have been fun to see how far he would have been able to go had he stayed healthy. On the bright side, New Orleans may now have a new franchise cornerstone right tackle in Taliese Fuaga.
Ramczyk's rookie extension that he signed back in 2021 was for five years, $96 million. The Saints will be on the books for just about $23 million of that over the next two years.
S Tyrann Mathieu
2025 dead money: $4,561,000
2026 dead money: $7,234,000
Around the building, it seemed as though they had seen this coming for a little bit, but this was a complete shocker for anyone on the outside. Many were expecting to Mathieu to man that safety spot for at least one more year, but instead he chose to walk away after 12 seasons in the league.
Mathieu will always be a legend in New Orleans and Louisiana as a whole, so it was tough for many to see him hang up his cleats. The Saints had already signed his replacement, another local in Justin Reid.
The 33-year-old did have just one year left on his contract, but it was reworked so there will be dead money in 2026 as well.
TE Jimmy Graham
On the same day as Mathieu, Graham decided to walk away from the game as well. While he was never able to win a Super Bowl in black and gold, he will be remembered by a generation as one of their favorites. That he's spent his post-football career rowing across oceans for charity is laudable.
The 38-year-old was not under contract and won't leave behind any dead money for 2025 or 2026, but the Saints were the last team that he suited up for back in 2023.
TE Dallin Holker
Holker was a surprise retirement on the first day of training camp. He had been dealing with an ankle injury in the spring and ultimately chose to walk away from pro football than continue grinding and punishing his body. The second-year pro's contract only included partial guarantees for 2024, so there is no dead money left over for 2025 or 2026.