What does a soft reset mean for the Saints?

New Orleans is taking their time in Free Agency this year.

From what it looks like, the New Orleans Saints are not going to spend much this year in free agency. There could be different reasons for this, but one of the main things that could be occurring is that the Saints have decided to reset soft.

A soft reset is when a team decides to save their money during free agency and only spend on cheap value deals. The team will also lose players because they get outbid by other teams with much more money. The Buccaneers did this same thing last year, but this should also sound very familiar because that is precisely what the Saints are doing. Free agents that the team wanted to keep ended up leaving because they could not decline the amount of money, for example, Malcolm Roach. The Saints have also stuck to mostly signing cheap players who are considered as great-value contracts. Although it is still early in free agency, it looks like the team is sticking to this pattern.

Why would the Saints do this?

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Even though the Saints believe in this current team and regime, they also believe fixing their cap is extremely important. For years, the Saints have been able to move money to future years and make the NFL Cap look “fake.” The issue is that these moves have created a lasting shadow that looms over all transactions. The Saints can get a lot of money and spend a lot with restructures, but by moving the money, there is a large dead cap hit. There are also many times when the Saints must pay their older players even when they are retired or off the team. The Saints want to have cap space without worrying about restructures, staying cheap, and losing important players because of being outbid easily.

How have the Saints been able to do this in NFL free agency?

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As I mentioned before, the Saints have committed to finding cheap-value deals that will help build the depth on the roster. They have also allowed players to leave in free agency without overpaying to keep them. The most impactful move allowing this soft reset to succeed is that veteran players have taken pay cuts. Ryan Ramczyk and James Hurst are examples of this, but Tyrann Mathieu also did this with his new extension. Having players that accept these pay cuts is critical to fixing the cap and getting into the positive. We have seen players in the past get cut or traded because they do not want a pay cut. In the 2024 NFL free agency, Keenan Allen being traded to the Chicago Bears is a prime example of this.

What are the future implications of a soft reset?

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Just like any move in the NFL, there are positives and negatives that follow. A soft reset does not stray away from this, and this move will have many future implications. The Saints will have more cap space in future years, which will allow the team to sign more expensive players. Although the Saints are not one to spend a lot on a player, if they see a player they desire, they can get him. They will also be able to slightly overspend on resigning players. A soft reset will also allow the Saints to keep star players on the team, for example, when Chris Olave needs to be paid.

As we have seen, the soft reset has prevented the Saints from signing and resigning more expensive players. This move stopped the team from filling roster holes with perfect free agents and has actually created more holes because of players leaving. Another negative of a soft reset is that it will not just happen this offseason. Next year, the Saints will be $60 million in the negative. They will have to make more moves to get under the cap while also trying not to pigeonhole themselves for future years with restructures. That means that at least next year, we will see the Saints do the same thing they are doing this year.

Another implication that occurs from this soft reset is that the importance of the draft has evolved to another level. The draft has always been considered a vital source of success in the NFL, and this has been shown with Saints teams in the past. This year was already considered important, but now that the Saints are possibly entering a soft reset, it is even more important. The Saints are not putting a lot of capital into free agents, and because of this, there are many holes on the roster. These holes need to be fixed, and if the team cannot do that in free agency, they have to do it in the draft. For example, If the Saints had cap space, they could have signed a top edge rusher in free agency and then drafted an offensive lineman in the draft. This would have also allowed the team to draft the best available player with many of their draft picks. Now, the Saints need to use each pick meticulously, without failure.

These moves are not made with a lack of confidence in the team, and just like the Buccaneers last season, the Saints can succeed by doing a soft reset. It is up to debate if the positives outweigh the negatives, but it does show the direction that the team is heading.