SATURDAY, 10:25am: Haralson will indeed earn the minimum salary, a one-year contract worth $870K, according to Evan Woodbery of NOLA.com (via Twitter).
THURSDAY, 5:58pm: The Saints made it official with a press release.
12:27pm: The Saints have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with outside linebacker Parys Haralson, keeping him off the free agent market, a league source tells Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). According to Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com (via Twitter), the deal figures to be for the minimum salary.
Haralson, who turned 31 last month, has spent the past two seasons with the Saints, serving as a part-time player on the team’s defensive unit. In 2014, he recorded 36 tackles and three sacks, to go along with a +1.5 Pro Football Focus grade in 498 snaps (subscription required). As PFF’s metrics showed, Haralson is at his best against the run — out of 40 qualified 4-3 outside linebackers, the former Tennessee Volunteer ranked fifth as a run defender.
Haralson’s previous one-year deal with the Saints was for the minimum salary and included a $65K signing bonus, the maximum bonus for a minimum-salary benefit contract. Like Fitzgerald, I expect Haralson’s new pact to look nearly identical to his last one, though the minimum salary for a player with his experience will get a modest bump, from $855K to $870K.