The New Orleans Saints have an obvious gap in their roster with the retirement of Drew Brees. The long-time quarterback decided to call it a career after this season after breaking virtually every passing record in the NFL, with most of it happening down in New Orleans.
But whoever ends up lining under center for them in 2021 will be well-protected for quite some time. The Saints announced today that they had signed tackle Ryan Ramczyk to a 5-year extension, bringing his deal to 6 years total.
The deal will end up being worth a total of $96 million in new money added to his deal. Of that, $60 million comes fully guaranteed and makes him the highest-paid tackle in the NFL right now. Lane Johnson signed a deal with the Eagles in 2019 that paid $18 million a year. Ramczyk is getting paid $19.2 million per year.
The Saints took Ramczyk with the 32nd pick out of Wisconsin in 2017 and he was named to the first-team All-Pro in 2019 and to the second team in 2018 and 2020. He’s been one of the elite offensive linemen in the game since his arrival to the NFL.
The deal should end up structured in a way that will give the Saints some salary-cap relief as well. They had roughly 5-6 million in space left before Ramczyk’s new deal. They still need to add some veteran help at cornerback and on defense just in general.
All of that news and more, this week in the NFL! Check back weekly with GMS Sports for the most up-to-date information on your favorite sports.
