The Saints’ starting center for the past four years, Max Unger will call it quits. The 10-year veteran will announce his retirement, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. Unger now resides on the reserve/retired list, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Unger made the Pro Bowl this past season and had one year remaining on his contract. The soon-to-be 33-year-old blocker had only missed one game during his Saints tenure.
Traded from Seattle to New Orleans in the Jimmy Graham-headlined deal four years ago, Unger became one of the Saints’ constants. His 2018 Pro Bowl was the third of his career, with the other two such honors having come when he was a Seahawk.
A 2009 second-round pick, Unger started all 130 games in which he played. He was a key part of the Saints’ revitalized running game, helping Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram form one of the league’s best backfield tandems in years. The Saints still have the other four members of their past two starting offensive lines under contract — Terron Armstead, Larry Warford, Andrus Peat and Ryan Ramczyk — but now have a need at center. This comes after Peat’s fifth-year option salary ($9.6MM) became fully guaranteed earlier this week.
The Saints appear to have known about this for a bit, considering the team hosted free agent interior lineman Nick Easton on a visit. Easton, who has played center and guard, has yet to decide on his next home. However, the Vikings submitted an offer late this week.
Unger’s retirement stands to free up $6.95MM in cap space. In the final season of a four-year, $24.9MM contract, Unger was to count $8.7MM against New Orleans’ cap.
Cameron Tom and Will Clapp, a 2017 UDFA and a 2018 seventh-round pick, respectively, reside as the other centers on the Saints’ roster. They have a combined two games’ worth of starting experience. Though, turning to one of these two (or a to-be-determined rookie) would help the two-time reigning NFC South champions devote some additional resources elsewhere, with their line still housing two veteran salaries and now a fifth-year option price tag.
Ooh big loss for the saints
I have a lot of respect for this guy and all he did for the team. But it would’ve been nice if he announced this sooner to give the saints more time to prepare
Couldn’t agree more. Obviously has every right to retire, but the timing really sucks. Unless it was something personal or medical that just came up in the last week, it’s pretty unfair to the team.
The draft is still a thing
You do realize that just because you’re just hearing this doesn’t mean the team is just hearing about it?
Maybe the Saints knew, which is why they didn’t move Peat before his guaranteed money kicked in. Replacing two starters would be tough. Just because it’s a shock to us, it doesn’t mean Unger didn’t inform the Saints prior. As this develops I think we will find out if that’s the case, or not.
Let’s be honest here, the Saints are 1-2 years away from a major decline and required rebuild. They had a nice run over the last decade (plus) and all good things come to an end just like Unger’s career.
I assume you think the Saints’ window revolves around Drew Brees, but that’s not necessarily the case. They’re obviously better with him, but they have Kamara, Michael Thomas, a solid line, Lattimore, and a defense that’s a lot better than it gets credit for. They’ve also drafted really well recently, and most of those guys are still really young. The cap could be an issue again down the line, but with the talent on their roster it’s not the worst problem to have.
Obviously they need to find a successor at quarterback (whether it’s Teddy or a draft pick), but other than that I think they’re in really good shape moving forward.