New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints tendered the exclusive rights to wide receiver Rashid Shaheed for a one-year tag worth $985,000. Shaheed caught 46 passes for 719 receiving yards and five touchdowns over five touchdowns in 15 games in 2023. The Saints plan to release Michael Thomas this offseason, and Shaheed could secure New Orleans' No. 2 receiver role behind top wideout Chris Olave. While Thomas was sidelined from Weeks 12 through 18, Shaheed caught 15 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns over five games. The 25-year-old did miss two weeks due to a thigh injury. Shaheed has always been a boom-or-bust fantasy option and is a better fantasy option in best-ball leagues than standard PPR formats.

The New Orleans Saints restructured quarterback Derek Carr's contract on Friday for salary cap purposes, a move that was expected to give the team around $23 million in cap relief for the 2024 season, according to sources. Carr is due $30 million in base salary this year, so converting a portion of that into a signing bonus provides immediate savings. The 32-year-old veteran signal-caller is under contract with the Saints through 2026. In his first year in the Big Easy, he threw for 3,878 yards, 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions while amazingly not missing a single game despite suffering multiple concussions, cracked ribs and a shoulder sprain. Carr is as tough as they come and can give fantasy managers low-end QB1 lines on occasion, but he's best drafted as a fantasy backup.

NewOrleans.Football's Nick Underhill believes that New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is going to bring a running game that will give running back Alvin Kamara "more space" to operate in 2024. Kubiak, who comes to New Orleans from the San Francisco 49ers, is expected to add plenty of pre-snap motion, something the Saints rarely did in 2023. The 28-year-old Kamara finished second among all RBs last year with 75 catches on 86 targets for 466 yards and a touchdown through the air. He added 180 rushing attempts for 694 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, so perhaps the addition of Kubiak will make Kamara more productive on the ground next season. Still, fantasy managers should have hesitations about Kamara's overall effectiveness as a rusher as he enters his age-29 campaign in 2024.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr is set to count $35.7 million against the salary cap in 2024, and his contract presents an opportunity for the team to create some more cap space by March 13, the start of the new league year. The Saints are expected to restructure Carr's contract by that date, which would effectively tie the team to Carr for at least the next two seasons. Leaving Carr's contract alone would have allowed them to move on from Carr next year with a relatively small financial penalty. The 32-year-old is set to make $30 million in base salary in 2024. If the Saints choose the most aggressive route and convert all but the veteran minimum to a signing bonus, they could lower Carr's cap hit in 2024 to around $14.2 million, which would clear more than $21 million in immediate cap relief. Carr got better down the stretch in 2023 and finished his first year in New Orleans with 3,878 passing yards, 25 TDs and eight picks while playing through a sprained AC joint in his shoulder, fractured ribs and two concussions.

New Orleans Saints rookie wide receiver A.T. Perry had the best game of his career in Week 18's win over the Atlanta Falcons. Perry caught all three targets for 53 yards and two touchdowns, showing off a rapport with quarterback Derek Carr. The rookie receiver out of Wake Forest has proven to be a productive red zone target and could see his role in the offense increase with another offseason in the system. He is a solid dynasty stash who flashed his capabilities on Sunday.