A surprising move for New Orleans.
The New Orleans Saints have been one of the NFL's main teams in completely changing how people view their moves. For a long time, the Saints made significant financial moves that pushed their expenses to the future, and although that was fine with Drew Brees at QB, it was risky with Derek Carr leading the team. It did not work out with Carr, and it has hurt the Saints for years. Last offseason, New Orleans was able to make some moves, but cap pressure still weighed down any division moves. This offseason was different, and it has felt like the Saints are making each decision carefully so the past can not happen again.
One of the main places where these decisions needed to be made carefully was in the restructures, and there were still some contracts the Saints did not touch before the draft, including LB Pete Werner.
The Saints' LB core is in such an interesting place going into the 2026 season. Kaden Elliss is by far the top guy in that room, and the hope is that he can be that Demario Davis role where he commands everyone. Hopefully that can happen, but there is also a real chance it doesn't. Behind Elliss, the Saints have a group of Werner, Danny Stutsman, Jaylan Ford, and Isaiah Stalbird. This is a fine group, but just last season, we saw how much of a weakness it can be. Werner was targeted in the run game, and throughout the season, his snaps were given to Stutsman and Stalbird.
Werner has shown us what he can do in this league, but relying on that to happen again is risky. There have always been rumors that the Saints could move on from Werner, and with the snaps dropping last season, it was likely to happen. Recently, the Saints did something that completely went against that notion: they restructured Werner's contract.
This move was extremely interesting because it shows the Saints' belief in Werner. They can afford to move on from him next season, but because they chose Werner to be the one they restructured, it raises the odds of him staying past next season. Werner would need to have a good season to solidify that.
The other interesting aspect of the Werner restructure was that it wasn't Cesar Ruiz. The offensive lineman was another player who had not yet been restructured, and because the Saints stayed away from doing that, it may mean his time with the team is nearing its end.