Saints Moving On From $12 Million Fan-Favorite After 2 Years

The New Orleans Saints are going to need to make some tough decisions in order to get their cap situation in order and they already have started.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Tuesday that the Saints will be releasing running back Jamaal Williams after just two seasons in New Orleans.

"Saints released veteran RB Jamaal Williams," Schefter said.

Williams joined the Saints ahead of the 2023 season after two straight solid campaigns as a member of the Detroit Lions. In 2022, he racked up over 1,000 yards with the Lions to go along with a league-leading 17 rushing touchdowns. That same production didn't carry over to his time in New Orleans as he had 306 rushing yards in 2023 and 164 yards in 2024. To be fair to him, he certainly didn't have the same role in New Orleans as he did in Detroit.

The 29-year-old quickly became a fan-favorite in New Orleans, though, after signing his three-year, $12 million deal with the team. Now, he will head to the open market and the Saints will get at least some cap relief thanks to his release. The release of Williams only saves a little more than $1 million for New Orleans, but it's just a start.

The Saints have a lot of work to do and this is just the beginning. We are less than one week away from free agency beginning across the league so there's likely going to be a lot more moves like this.