Saints restructure contracts of Michael Thomas, Ryan Ramczyk

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas. Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Saints clear $26.2 million of cap space with Michael Thomas, Ryan Ramczyk restructures

By Adam Stites | Last updated 2/26/22

The New Orleans Saints made headway Saturday in their lengthy climb out of a salary cap hole by restructuring the contracts of wide receiver Michael Thomas and offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk.

According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Saints converted significant chunks of both players' salary into signing bonuses that cleared $26.217 million in salary cap space.

Source: the Saints’ cap moves are underway, as they’ve converted $14.565M of Michael Thomas’ compensation for 2022 and $18,206,608 of OT Ryan Ramczyk’s compensation for 2022 into signing bonuses, creating $26.217M in cap space.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 26, 2022

Even after the moves provided a huge amount of relief, the Saints are still the team in the most dire salary cap situation. But that's nothing new for New Orleans as the team has navigated a similar situation on an annual basis in recent years.

With plenty of work left to do, eyes will now turn to other players on the roster with sizable cap hits, including defensive end Cameron Jordan, quarterback Taysom Hill, and running back Alvin Kamara.

Thomas is a three-time Pro Bowler and the 2019 Offensive Player of the Year, but missed the entire 2021 season with an ankle injury. Ramczyk missed seven games in 2021 due to a knee injury that required surgery earlier this month.

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