As previously discussed on Gridiron Heroics, New Orleans Saints All-Pro right tackle Ryan Ramczyk underwent knee surgery near the end of February to repair the cartilage defect in his left knee, which he had dealt with for the previous three seasons. After the surgery was deemed successful, Dennis Allen changed his tune about his recovery and said Ramczyk wasn’t progressing the way they had hoped, with his availability for 2024 in question. Unfortunately for the All-Pro tackle, the Saints placed him on the season-ending reserve/PUP list before training camp started, as many reporters believed that he would never play again in the NFL, and a retirement was on the horizon.
Since he will likely retire this offseason and the Saints will designate his eventual retirement as a post-June 1 cut designation, they restructured Ramczyk’s contract now for immediate contract relief. NFL rules require every team to be under the cap by the start of the new year, and the Saints are roughly $67 million over the cap. This allows them to be one step closer to salary cap compliance.
The New Orleans Saints restructured their All-Pro tackle’s contract
According to Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap, the Saints restructured Ryan Ramczyk’s contract by eliminating/reducing his $18 million base salary to the league minimum of $1.255 million, and his $29 million cap hit drops to $12.33 million for 2025, freeing $16.745 million in cap space. As a result, with the restructuring, the Saints are roughly $50 million over the cap.
“To help the Saints salary cap, Ramczyk agreed to eliminate his $18 million base salary for 2025 and reduce it to the minimum of $1.255 million,” Fitzgerald said. “This frees up $16.745 million in cap room, allowing the Saints to carry him on the roster at a $12.33 million cap figure until June 2nd at which point he should likely retire. Prior to this the Saints would have had to carry his cap figure at a $29 million number if they wanted to use the June 1 cut.”
What does a post-June 1st cut look like?
As Jason Fitzgerald points out, Ryan Ramczyk’s contract still has a $23.066 million dead cap hit, which will be spread into the 2026 offseason rather than accelerating into 2025. Since they will designate him as a post-June 1st cut, the Saints will incur a dead cap hit of $11.083 million and free up $1.255 million in cap space for 2025, and a $11.983 million dead cap hit for 2026.
“Ramczyk’s contract still has $23.066 million in dead money and by using the June 1 release the Saints will be able to split that up across two seasons at $11.083 million in 2025 and $11.983 million in 2026. Overall this puts the Saints in about a $12 million better position with the salary cap than if they released him or allowed him to officially retire in March,” Fitzgerald said.
