Continuing to eat Brian O'Neill's cap hits - a sign of success

I know a lot of people freak out about how Kwesi/Brzezinski rely on back-loading contracts with expanding cap hits and void years, but I've got to say I really admire how they use them to maximize roster opportunities without getting stuck with dusty old players.

O'Neill has been thought of as a restructure candidate for the last 2 free agencies, and is considered one now. They may still restructure him this offseason, but so far they've been really good about eating his bigger cap hits and instead backloading contracts of younger players. This is quite a bit different than the Saints, who have gotten themselves in huge trouble by extending old players out of desperation and never being able to work through the "debt."

Eric Eager said the beauty of structuring contracts this way is you effectively increase your salary cap by 5% by giving up some flexibility. So far it looks like Kwesi is threading this needle perfectly - getting us as much roster power as possible without setting us up for a future of keeping someone like Anthony Barr around on a bloated contract because we're out of options. I love the way we're handling the start of the JJM era, and it's the first time since I've been a fan that I feel like we're getting away from hoping a flash in the pan gets us a superbowl, and instead building for long-term success and many years of getting deep in the playoffs.