It's been a big week for the New Orleans Saints at the start of their 2026 training camp. Between Taysom Hill saying thank you to New Orleans as he considers his next step
, Bryan Bresee suffering a potentially season-ending knee injury, and Chris Olave agreeing to terms on a $132 million contract extension, there's been a lot to keep up with. And Drew Brees is going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next week, too. But right now we're focusing on Olave's new contract. Thanks to some reporting from NewOrleans.Football's Nick Underhill on the structure of the deal, we can estimate just how much it'll cost the Saints against the salary cap.Olave was set to play on his fully-guaranteed fifth-year option of $15.493 million, but that money appears
to have been spread out as part of the deal. Underhill reports that Olave's base salary is now $1.29 million, a little more than the veteran's minimum, and a steep drop from that $15.493 million figure. Combine that with the proration from his $35 million signing bonus and you've got a 2026 salary cap hit of about $8.29 million. That saves the Saints $7.2 million against this year's cap, putting them under the spending limit by more than $13.5 million. They can use that extra money to sign a veteran to replace Bresee, upgrade another position group, or just churn the depth chart and cover in-season moves.
Here are Olave's other salary cap hit estimates under this new contract:
- 2026: $8.29 million ($1.29 million base salary and $7 million SB proration guaranteed)
- 2027: $20.6 million ($13.6 million base salary and $7 million SB proration guaranteed)
- 2028: $30 million ($23 million base salary and $7 million SB proration guaranteed)
- 2029: $34 million ($3.11 million of his base salary and $7 million SB proration guaranteed)
- 2030: $36.76 million ($7 million SB proration guaranteed)
Keep in mind that there's a lot we don't know, like roster bonuses and guarantee trigger dates in future years. But if our math is correct, Olave is effectively tied to the Saints through 2028, with an off-ramp designed for 2029 if that's the direction the team feels they need to go. They would be under the projected 2027 salary cap ($327 million, estimated by the experts at Over The Cap) by about $25.5 million, but they could choose to restructure Olave's deal in the spring. Whether it's smart is another discussion, but it's an option.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Chris Olave contract details: What it means for Saints' salary cap
