I think all Saints fans were collectively aghast when they saw that tight end Coby Fleener had signed a 5 year, $36 million deal last offseason. Why trade away Jimmy Graham only to turn around and give that much money to an inferior player at the same position? While the ever elevated new salary cap has re-defined the parameters of contracts, making open market values of even pedestrian players exorbitant, the general perception around the fan base was the Saints were grossly over-paying at $7.2 million per year for a decent but not great player. Coby Fleener did little to change that perception with his first season in New Orleans. He did not live up to his contract, turning in a 50 catch, 631 yard and 3 touchdown season. Fleener didn’t even had a career year, turning in slightly better numbers in three other seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. For him not to thrive in this offense was concerning to say the least. Fleener saw 4 or less targets in 8 out of 16 games for the Saints in 2016. He clearly wasn’t a priority for involvement, ranking fourth on the team in total targets. By comparison, the combined salaries of the three guys ahead of him last year (Brandin Cooks, Michael Thomas and Willie Snead, IV) totaled rougly $3.7 million, or about half Fleener’s annual average. Needless to say, this has many fans already wondering when the Saints can hit the eject button on Fleener’s perceived elevated contract.
As expected, releasing Fleener now is not an option – on the field or off. He would represent an additional $4.7 million in dead money with his release this season. That means he’s more expensive to the team off it than on it. So he’s going to play in 2017 for the Saints no matter what. We’re all wondering about 2018, though. Fleener can be released prior to free agency and the Saints would save $3.2 million in cap money. He counts $8 million against the cap, though, so $4.8 of that would be dead money. Definitely not good, but not awful either. If the Saints designate him as a post June 1 cut like they did with Jairus Byrd, though, the cap savings goes up to $6.4 million and the dead money goes down to just $1.6 million. That feels a lot more palatable, if not realistic. The Saints wouldn’t be able to use that cap space during free agency, but like with Byrd that cap space post June 1st would mostly cover the entire rookie class post draft.
Bottom line? His release next season, whether pre or post June 1st, represents some savings. The post June 1st release is especially appealing if the Saints can justify not needing the $3.2 million in cap space entering free agency. To avoid this fate, Fleener is going to have to justify his contract and he probably has just this season to do it. It’s therefore pretty simple – Fleener has to be awesome this year or he’s probably gone.
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