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New Orleans Saints News & Rumors

Saints Sign RB Ty Montgomery

May 15th, 2020 at 3:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Saints will add to their running back room by signing Ty Montgomery. The former Packers, Ravens and Jets back agreed to a deal with New Orleans on Friday, Nick Underhill of New Orleans.Football tweets. The Saints announced the move.

Montgomery has experience as a wide receiver and running back and operated as the Jets’ kick returner last season. He will join Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray with the Saints.

Being permitted to wear No. 88 despite switching to running back years ago, Montgomery profiles as an interesting utility piece for a team that has gotten considerable mileage from this type of player in recent years. The former third-round pick out of Stanford moved to running back in 2016 — his second NFL season — and averaged 5.9 yards per carry that year. He also caught 44 passes for 348 yards in 2016. However, Montgomery has not contributed much statistically beyond that season.

The Packers interestingly opened the 2017 season with Montgomery starting ahead of then-rookies Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams but traded Montgomery to the Ravens after a fumble on a kick return led to a Green Bay loss to the Rams. And he saw little time with Baltimore. Last year, the Jets gave him 32 carries.

That said, Montgomery is still just 27, has a career 4.6 yards-per-carry average and posted a 900-plus-yard receiving season in college. Montgomery compiled back-to-back 61-reception seasons to close his Cardinal career. The Saints, who also did not draft a wideout, are listing Montgomery as a running back.

It would seem likely New Orleans views Montgomery as more of an offensive weapon, considering the team just saw Deonte Harris become an All-Pro returner last season. Harris, whom the Associated Press named as its All-Pro punt returner, functioned as the Saints’ kick returner as well.

In a corresponding move, the Saints waived tight end Mitchell Loewen.

Saints Re-Sign Patrick Omameh

May 14th, 2020 at 3:50pm CST by Zachary Links

Patrick Omameh has re-signed with the Saints, as Greg Auman of The Athletic tweets. Financial terms of the deal are not yet known.

Omameh has spent time with a number of teams, but he’s perhaps best known for his ill-fated free agent deal with the Giants in 2018. After two years with the Jaguars, the G-Men inked him to a three-year, $15MM deal. Dave Gettleman saw something in the former undrafted free agent that didn’t quite surface in New York, but he wasn’t alone. Other clubs were in on the bidding and the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus positioned him as the No. 36 qualified guard in the NFL just one year earlier. In other words, Omameh wasn’t a first-rate blocker, but his $5MM AAV wasn’t outlandish.

Unfortunately, Omameh struggled in his first fall with the Giants. He was cut in November of that year; at the time, PFF had him just 61st out of 75 qualified guards. After finishing out the year with his old friends in Jacksonville, Omameh joined the Saints in the summer of ’19. Now, he’ll return to reprise his interior depth role.

Last year, Omameh appeared in 14 games for the Saints with just one start. For his career, Omameh’s suited up for 81 games with 57 starts, mostly coming with the Bucs and Jaguars.

Saints Re-Sign WR Austin Carr

May 9th, 2020 at 11:09am CST by Ben Levine

Austin Carr is heading back to New Orleans. The Saints announced that they’ve signed the wideout to a one-year deal.

The Northwestern product started his career as an undrafted free agent with the Patriots, hauling in 14 receptions for 153 yards and two touchdowns during the 2017 preseason. Despite his performance, he was still waived by New England, and he quickly caught on with the Saints.

Since joining New Orleans, Carr has appeared in 21 games (five starts), hauling in 10 receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns. The 26-year-old has also appeared in a pair of playoff games for the Saints.

As Mike Triplett of ESPN.com writes, it’s been a hectic offseason for the Carr family. The receiver’s wife, Erica, tested positive for the coronavirus before giving birth to their first child last month. Carr and his child both tested negative, and the player revealed that his wife has fully recovered.

Saints Release Larry Warford

May 8th, 2020 at 9:05pm CST by Zachary Links

The Saints released guard Larry Warford on Friday in a move that cleared $7MM+ from the salary cap. As expected, the multiple-time Pro Bowler is already drawing interest from teams. The Texans are one club that’s already considering Larry Warford, according to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. Same goes for the Bears, who would offer considerably more upside than new pickup Germain Ifedi.

[RELATED: Saints To Be Sanctioned for Tommy Stevens Pursuit?]

Warford, 29 in June, has earned Pro Bowl nods in each of the last three seasons. However, the Pro Bowl selection process for offensive linemen tends to be less than scientific, and Sean Payton was less than thrilled with his performance in 2019. The Saints made that crystal clear late last month when they drafted interior lineman Cesar Ruiz in the first round. Ditto for their re-signing of Andrus Peat on a five-year, $57.5MM deal in March. Ruiz will now battle with Erik McCoy – a center, by trade – for a starting guard spot on the line.

Before the release, Warford was set to play out the final season of the four-year, $34MM deal he inked as a free agent in 2017. Now released, Warford will count for $5.125MM in dead money against the cap, but they’ll save $7.75MM in cap dollars.

Warford scored that deal off of the strength of his play in Detroit. As a third-round pick of the Lions, he went on to start in all 57 of his games and he ranked as Pro Football Focus’ 20th-best guard in his walk year.

The Texans could use a guy like Warford, who could supplant Zach Fulton as their top right guard.

Saints, Panthers To Be Sanctioned for Tommy Stevens Pursuit?

May 6th, 2020 at 11:56am CST by Rory Parks

Two division rivals were engaged in an interesting game of tug-of-war at the tail end of the 2020 draft, with the prize being Mississippi State quarterback Tommy Stevens. On Day 2 of the draft, New Orleans traded pick nos. 130, 169, 203, and 244 to the Vikings for the right to move up to no. 105 and select Dayton tight end Adam Trautman. That left the team with no Day 3 selections, so as Jeff Duncan of The Athletic writes, the Saints spent much of that day planning for the UDFA signing period.

One of New Orleans’ top UDFA targets was Stevens, who may ultimately fill the same QB2/gadget role that Taysom Hill presently occupies. But the Saints learned that the Panthers were interested in Stevens as well and were prepared to offer him a $15K signing bonus and guarantee $30K of his salary if he signed with Carolina as a UDFA. The Saints swooped in and offered a massive $144K in guaranteed salary if he would agree to sign with New Orleans, but then Stevens’ camp stopped answering the Saints’ calls.

Perhaps the Panthers topped the Saints’ offer, or perhaps Stevens viewed Carolina as a better long-term fit. But Saints head coach Sean Payton coveted the 6-5, 235-pound signal-caller, so he helped engineer a trade back into the seventh round of the draft to grab him, leaving the Panthers stunned.

This makes for an interesting story, one that may ultimately have no significance if Stevens, like most seventh-round picks, doesn’t pan out. The problem, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk observes, is that both the Saints and the Panthers flagrantly violated league rules. Once the draft begins, teams are at liberty to let prospects know that they are interested in them if they go undrafted, but they cannot discuss financial details. The NFL drove that point home in a league-wide memo this year, perhaps because the UDFA signing period was expected to be even more frenzied than usual.

As Florio notes in a separate piece, the league has yet to comment on the matter, though the Panthers have said that their actions were in compliance with league rules. And these particular rules are surely violated all the time, probably by every team in the league. The casualness with which the Saints brass discussed the situation suggests as much. Nonetheless, a league source expects both teams to be punished, though it remains to be seen what that punishment will entail.

Details On Taysom Hill’s Contract, 2020 Role

May 3rd, 2020 at 11:29am CST by Rory Parks

Last week, the Saints signed Taysom Hill to a two-year extension worth $21MM ($16MM guaranteed) that will tether him to the team through the 2021 season. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk provides a breakdown of the deal, which features a $1.4MM roster bonus for 2021 that has already become guaranteed and a $10.72MM 2021 salary, $5.72MM of which was guaranteed at signing.

Those details confirm what we already knew: that the Saints are committed to Hill as the successor to Drew Brees in 2021. Hill’s contract, though seemingly rich for a soon-to-be 30-year-old QB who has thrown 13 regular season passes in his pro career, is still modest for a starting quarterback, which New Orleans needs given the dead money charges it will be carrying for Brees for the next few seasons.

Since the Saints have not made their support of Hill a secret, some have wondered why the BYU product did not gamble on himself this year by playing out the season under his first-round RFA tender (worth $4.6MM) and hoping for a franchise tag in 2021. But as Florio observes, if Hill is used more as a RB or WR in 2020, his tag number would come in far lower than the QB tag. Plus, if the salary cap falls in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the non-exclusive tag number — which is driven by the salary cap — would see a corresponding drop.

Speaking of Hill’s usage, Hill himself expects that he will not be used as much on special teams in 2020, as Katherine Terrell of The Athletic tweets. Hill was deployed on 62% of the Saints’ ST snaps in 2019 after an 80% rate in 2018, and that number should continue to decline as Hill’s development as a passer becomes more of a focus. However, we previously heard that New Orleans still plans to utilize his athleticism and versatility to spark the offense.

Hill added that a two-year contract was the best outcome for both sides, and he said negotiations with the Saints began several months ago (Twitter link via Terrell). Other teams did kick the tires on him, but the first-round RFA tender prevented rival clubs from giving him an offer sheet.

The Saints also signed Jameis Winston to guard against the possibility of a Hill injury, but it looks like Winston’s tenure in New Orleans will only last for a season (unless he chooses to re-up as Hill’s backup in 2021). In light of Andy Dalton‘s new contract with the Cowboys, Winston’s modest deal with New Orleans looks like a win for the team.

Saints Sign DL Margus Hunt

May 1st, 2020 at 5:39pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Saints are adding Margus Hunt to their defensive line group. The team announced a deal with the recent Colts starter on Friday.

Hunt played the past three seasons with the Colts, starting 15 games for them in 2018 and earning a contract extension. However, after benching the defensive tackle in 2019, the Colts cut bait earlier this year.

Set for his age-33 season, the 2013 Bengals second-rounder has not lived up to that draft slot. The Estonian NFLer has just 7.5 career sacks — though he registered 5.0 in 2018 — and has only made 25 career starts.

While Hunt struggled in 2019, Pro Football Focus graded him as a top-40 defensive tackle in 2017 and placed him 51st a year later. The SMU product remains Division I-FBS’ career leader in blocked field goals with 10, owing this skill to a 6-foot-8 frame.

With the Saints, he profiles as a depth piece who will not be guaranteed a roster spot. New Orleans now has three former first-round defensive tackles on its depth chart, with Hunt joining Sheldon Rankins and Malcom Brown. The team recently extended David Onyemata on a lucrative deal as well. Former Raiders second-rounder Mario Edwards is also part of this high-profile interior defender contingent.

NFC South Notes: Saints, Bucs, Brady

May 1st, 2020 at 3:07pm CST by Zachary Links

Despite the three Pro Bowl selections on his resume, Larry Warford‘s standing with the Saints is in flux. The Saints have been pondering his status throughout the offseason, according to Larry Holder of The Athletic.

Warford has started in every game he’s played throughout his career, including these last three Pro Bowl seasons with the Saints. Still, Sean Payton followed through on his promise to prioritize the interior line by drafting center Cesar Ruiz in the first round. He’s also indicated that Ruiz could be a first-stringer and that Warford will have to compete for his starting gig.

Warford is still on the right side of 30 (he turns 29 in June), but the Saints aren’t sold on him. It’s a situation to monitor as he enters the final year of the four-year, $34MM deal he inked as a free agent in 2017. If released, Warford would count for $5.125MM in dead money versus $7.75MM in cap savings.

The Saints are giving real thought to shedding that deal, especially with a combined $28MM committed to Terron Armstead and Andrus Peat in 2020. They also have an extension on the horizon for standout tackle Ryan Ramczyk, who just recently had his 2021 option exercised.

More from the NFC South:

  • When Tom Brady visited Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, he accidentally walked into the wrong house. He also triggered some questions regarding league rules, since the visit occurred during the league’s “dark period” prior to virtual offseason activities. However, the league looked into it and determined that there were no rule violations, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link).
  • The NFL has also determined that the Saints‘ signing of Jameis Winston will not count against their compensatory formula (Twitter link via Nick Underhill of New Orleans Football). It’s not clear whether Winston’s signing was actually borderline in this regard – his deal was reportedly signed after the deadline for the compensatory pick formula, which should have made this an automatic. In any case, Winston is now set to watch and learn from Drew Brees on his one-year contract.
  • Meanwhile, the Buccaneers are hoping to finally figure out their kicking situation. They’re hopeful that Matt Gay will improve this year, GM Jason Licht says, but the Bucs are also “definitely planning on adding competition,” (via the Tampa Bay Times). Gay made only 27 of 35 field goals last year, but he did nail five of his tries from 50 yards out.

Jameis Winston Gets $1.1MM Base Salary In Saints Deal

April 29th, 2020 at 9:56am CST by Zachary Links

Jameis Winston won’t earn much as he backs up Drew Brees and Taysom Hill in New Orleans. His one-year deal with the Saints carries a base value of just $1.1MM, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. That sum includes his signing bonus, which is just $148K.

[RELATED: Saints Sign Jameis Winston]

There will be opportunities for Winston to earn more. The deal also includes $3.4MM in total available incentives – $1.76MM tied to playtime, $1.8MM playoff playtime, and $40K if he makes the Pro Bowl (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). Even if he stays on the roster and hits every bonus, Winston is still only looking at $4.7MM in earnings. Of course, Winston won’t get the opportunity to earn those bonuses unless Brees and/or Hill miss time.

Winston reportedly chose the Saints over larger offers because he felt it was his best opportunity to learn and grow as a player. Despite his talent, the former No. 1 overall pick could probably use the seasoning. The Bucs saw the best and worst of what Winston has to offer last year. Winston led the league with 5,109 passing yards, but also led the NFL with 30 interceptions. Those errors, of course, erased his 33 touchdown throws.

For what it’s worth, Winston’s old boss Jason Licht believes that he’ll turn things around eventually.

“Jameis was still part of our plan if things went a different route,” said the GM, who now has Tom Brady under center. “We’ve got a lot of respect for him. I thought he did a lot of great things, and anybody in our office or building would say the same thing. He did some spectacular things for us. I would never say that, personally — and I think I speak on behalf of the organization — that he’s a bust. I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him.”

Saints Sign 13 UDFAs

April 27th, 2020 at 8:10pm CST by Ben Levine

After adding only four rookies via the draft, the Saints compensated today by signing 13 undrafted free agents. The organization formally announced the following signings:

After drafting Michigan center Cesar Ruiz in the first round of the draft, the team made their largest undrafted-free-agent investment in an offensive lineman. Nick Underhill of The Athletic tweets that Oregon’s Calvin Throckmorton will earn $110K in guaranteed money and a $12.5K signing bonus. The team also gave $90K in guaranteed money to Jordan Steckler (per Underhill on Twitter).

On the defensive side of the ball, Texas defensive lineman Malcolm Roach will earn $95K in guaranteed money (via Underhill on Twitter). The versatile defender finished his collegiate career with nine tackles-for-loss and three sacks in 2019.

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