Dennis Allen headed to the Windy City?

Former Saints head coach Dennis Allen headed to the Windy City?

Updated: 2:53 PM CST Jan 20, 2025

All right, let’s do some who, what, when, where, why all the questions, Katherine, when it comes to the Saints salary cap. How in world do they get on the cap? I know they’re not 100 million over the cap like *** few years ago. Well, you know, salary cap is my favorite topic. I write *** piece every single year about how they get under, so maybe the Saints are helping me stay employed by doing this every year, but this year actually surprisingly is not as bad, just like you said. They started out the offseason predicted to be around 65 million. That’s just based on an estimated cap. They already made one major move and that was restructuring Ryan Rammchek, who did the same thing that Drew Brees did in 2021, lowered his base salary, which is an indication that he could. tire due to his, you know, knee injuries that prevented him from playing in 2024, and they’ll have more moves to come. Major moves. What other major moves can the Saints make to get underneath the cap? Well, first of all, they have $17 million in dead money potentially pending, and it depends on whether they resigned Chase Young, resign Tano, resign Jaan Johnson. And so that’s one thing, but obviously they’re going to have *** few restructures potentially with some of the younger players, and then they’ll have to make *** few cuts. The older players are the interesting topic here because *** lot of older players are tying up *** significant portion of the salary cap. When the Saints entered this offseason before the Ryan Rammchek move, it was *** 140 million in salary cap hits just for six players. So it’s not easily fixable, but obviously the Saints will figure out *** way to do it by March. The next big question, quarterback Derek Carr. What is it? 51 1.4 million this year. That is *** lot of money. What do they do with Derek Carr? Do they bring him back? Did they restructure? You already asked him about taking *** pay cut, and that was that was *** pretty definite no. So what do they do? Well, I think that what I would do if I was *** salary cap manager is you would move forward with Derek Carr at 51.4 million. I know that’s *** huge salary cap hit, however, then you can move on from him more easily next year. And the reason I say that is because the Saints don’t have the first pick in the draft, as Mickey Loomis said, they don’t have an easy way to get *** slam dunk. quarterback. It really is going to depend on *** few factors though. Who does the next head coach want? Does the next head coach want to go with someone like Jake Hayner or Spencer Rattler? Do they want to try to move up in the draft, or do they think, well, we’ll use Derek Carr as *** bridge quarterback and then kind of start moving on in earnest in 2026. There’s really *** lot of ways and things that could happen before that Derek Carr decision is made. Keyword here, I don’t think Mickey Loomis really likes this word rebuilds. Do they rebuild? He’s never liked that word. I think, uh, what was it? 10 years ago. It wasn’t Mickey, but Drey said the window was slammed open, and I think that they continue to think that way. The problem is it’s hard to rebuild the NFL. Everyone wants to say, oh, let’s just tear it down to the studs. Well, with the salary cap, it’s hard to do because of the dead money hits that come with restructuring and then trying to move on from those players early. So the way to rebuild is to to stop doing that, to try to just basically take your lumps this year and then 2026, you have not *** clean slate, but *** much easier slate to manage. So I’m assuming here. That that maybe they’re somewhat of players in free agency, but this is where they have to do their damage to get this roster back is in the NFL draft like they did in 2017 and even back in 2006. Yeah, I totally agree that they shouldn’t be huge players in free agency. I thought that last year and they kind of surprised everyone by going and spending *** lot of money on Chase Young. I think that this draft is so important, and you could say that every year. But the Saints haven’t really hit on *** lot of drafts lately, so they need that they need this draft to hit and these guys on rookie contracts to be able to kind of help massage the salary cap in the next few years. You know, the one thing Mickey Loomis says is getting things right. They want to get back into the playoffs. He has *** lot of pressure to, you know, make this franchise *** winning franchise again. It’s been 4 years. The pressure starts to add up and add up after years of not getting into the postseason. How long, much longer does he stay as the GM? How much longer do you think he wants to do this? He was asked about retirement. He said, no, if I can’t do it, then maybe I’ll think about it. Well, I was joking how last year Mickey Loomis said that everyone needed to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and then this year he said he was comfortably uncomfortable. So I, I don’t know what we’ll hear next year, but I think that everyone kind of should be on edge, you know, from the front office down to. You know, whatever coaches remain here next year because if they don’t make *** great coaching hire and hit on this draft, then they’ll be right back in this position in *** few years and I think Mickey Loomis, who’s already getting *** lot of scrutiny, will probably start getting more internal scrutiny. But you know, for now it seems like they’re comfortable kind of moving ahead with their current front office structure. This is *** crystal ball question how far away is this franchise from being *** competitive franchise again? Well, you see franchises all the time turn around quickly when you make the right moves. Uh, you saw that with Denver, uh, Detroit, now look at them after where they were just *** few years ago. You know, the right coach and hitting on the draft can turn things around immediately, but I do think that this is going to be harder with the state of the salary cap, just *** lot of different areas going on. So. I would be surprised if they’re suddenly able to turn it into *** winning season next year, but I think if they make the right moves within, you know, maybe the next few years, starting to clean slate in 2026, you might be able to start building back up. All right. She is Catherine Terrell from ESPN answering all your questions about the cap, free agency, draft, every question that we can possibly ask. Thanks, Kat. Thanks for having me on back to you.

Former Saints head coach Dennis Allen headed to the Windy City?

Updated: 2:53 PM CST Jan 20, 2025

Former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen could be coaching against the Black & Gold next season.According to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, Allen could be joining the staff of new Bears head coach Ben Johnson in the Windy City.Allen was fired as the Saints head coach last November. His record as the Saints head coach was 18-25.The Saints play in Chicago against the Bears in 2025. Prior to becoming the Saints head coach, Allen spent 12 seasons in New Orleans as an assistant under Payton. He was the assistant defensive line coach during the 2006-2007 seasons, then moved to secondary coach from 2008-2010. Allen was part of the Saints Super Bowl XLIV championship coaching staff in 2009. From 2011 through 2014, he worked as the defensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos and head coach of the Oakland Raiders. He returned to New Orleans in 2015 as a senior defensive assistant and became the defensive coordinator in 2016.Johnson had spent three seasons as Detroit’s offensive coordinator. This season, the Lions led the league in points per game and finished second in yards passing and total yards per game.

NEW ORLEANS —

Former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen could be coaching against the Black & Gold next season.

According to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, Allen could be joining the staff of new Bears head coach Ben Johnson in the Windy City.

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Ben Johnson has been busy assembling a star-studded coaching staff. The leading candidate to become his defensive coordinator in Chicago is former Saints HC Dennis Allen, per league sources. pic.twitter.com/iJCbMLJSLe

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 20, 2025

Allen was fired as the Saints head coach last November.

His record as the Saints head coach was 18-25.

The Saints play in Chicago against the Bears in 2025.

Prior to becoming the Saints head coach, Allen spent 12 seasons in New Orleans as an assistant under Payton. He was the assistant defensive line coach during the 2006-2007 seasons, then moved to secondary coach from 2008-2010. Allen was part of the Saints Super Bowl XLIV championship coaching staff in 2009. From 2011 through 2014, he worked as the defensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos and head coach of the Oakland Raiders. He returned to New Orleans in 2015 as a senior defensive assistant and became the defensive coordinator in 2016.

Johnson had spent three seasons as Detroit’s offensive coordinator. This season, the Lions led the league in points per game and finished second in yards passing and total yards per game.