The New Orleans Saints seem intent on contending again in 2025, at least based on their early free agency moves.
Many thought that they would finally take the dead money hits and ride it out to a new era of Saints football. That is not the case as they acted quick to re-sign some of those players with dead money on the books.
One such player was tight end Juwan Johnson, who was brought back on a three-year, $30.75 million contract with his first two years fully guaranteed.
When looked at closer, this deal is a bit more complicated than it might look on paper. These are the details of the contract, as shown by the experts over at OverThe Cap:
2025 salary cap hit
This is where the cap maneuvering really shows for New Orleans. They were able to actually save money for this season by bringing him back this year. He was set to have a higher dead money hit than his actual cap hit this year, due to the contract being back loaded and the presence of more void years.
He has a base salary of just $1,170,000 this season. His prorated salary bonus will be $4,075,00 for the first three seasons. His total cap hit for 2025 is at $5,245,000.
2026 salary cap hit
This is the highest base salary of the contract, but is actually not his most expensive season. He starts at $9,080,000 and then his signing bonus pushes his total cap hit to $13,155,000. This is basically set up to be restructured, which would save the Saints $5,648,000 while increasing his future cap hits by $1,573,000.
2027 salary cap hit
Despite a lowered base salary of $7,500,000, this could end up being his most expensive season due to a $2,000,000 roster bonus. His total cap hit would end up at $13,575,000. If the Saints restructure him in 2026, his cap hit would rise to $15,148,000.
2028 void year
The first of two void years, where his prorated signing bonus will drop to $3,075,000. If Johnson's contract expires as written, he'll leave behind $5,275,000 in dead money as the 2029 void year hit accelerates onto the books in 2028. If it expires in 2028 after being restructured in 2026, the dead money hit would be about $9,994,000.
2029 void year
Johnson's last year on the books, for now, with his signing bonus again dropping down to $2,200,000 to close things out. But this year will void in 2028 if his contract expires as it's written. A restructure would probably include another void year for cap purposes in 20230, but Johnson would need to sign another extension to see it.