Ellington

The thought on the minds of New Orleans Saints fans all this upcoming offseason is that the last season was just a building block for the future great seasons ahead. Back in the real world, though, the Saints will start 2015 much the way they started 2014: in salary-cap hell once again. Many folks smarter than I am project the salary cap for 2015 to be around $140 million, up from the $133 million this past season.

If it makes a $10-million jump like last season, the Saints will still be over the cap. As of right now, the Saints are over by about $20 million with spending reaching more than $160 million. So even if New Orleans gets a cap around $145 million, the team will still be $15 million over the cap. That means the Saints will have to cut players and restructure contracts before they even practice for the first time next season.

New Orleans might have to cut guards Ben Grubbs and Jahri Evans, who will together make $20.6 million this season. Both players could be gone as the Saints try to rebuild an offensive line with the window to now win closing on quarterback Drew Brees and head coach Sean Payton. Speaking of Brees, his cap number goes to $26.4 million this season. Brees is the highest paid offensive player, and Junior Galette's $15.5 million makes him the highest-paid defensive player. Jimmy Graham is tied for third highest player (with Evans) at $11 million. Safety Jairus Byrd rounds out the top five and is the last player making double digits at a cap number of $10.3 million. The next highest-paid player is Marques Colston at $9 million, and he likely will be cut this offseason. Colston is great, but his production this season doesn't justify $9 million in 2015 for a team that must win now. Joining Colston could be linebackers Curtis Lofton and David Hawthorne, who will make a combined $15 million.

Now, cutting those players doesn't put the Saints under the cap automatically. There is a thing called "Dead Money" that teams get hit with when they cut players. There is not enough space in this column to explain it all, but it's there.