Saints coach Sean Payton said as much in an interview on FOX Sports 1, saying that the Saints will work very hard at getting a deal done with Graham even as they know that with the NFL’s salary cap, every dollar they commit to Graham is a dollar they can’t spend elsewhere.
“With that being said, the first thing that comes to my mind with free agency is your own roster,” Payton said, via the
Times-Picayune. “I think often times that gets overlooked. The most challenging part of your job as a coach, and I share that with [G.M. Mickey Loomis] or anyone that has been with an organization as long as we have been, going on year nine, is some of the
tough decisions that have to be made with regards to your cap with the ability that you possibly can sign Jimmy Graham.”
The first issue the Saints have to deal with is whether Graham will be considered a tight end or a wide receiver for purposes of the franchise tag. The Saints will want to have the ability to tag him for a $6.8 million tender offer, which is the tight end amount, while Graham will want to be tendered at $11.6 million, the wide receiver amount.
Even if the Saints are able to tag Graham as a tight end, they don’t have much cap space in the first place, and there may not be room under the cap for other soon-to-be free agents including safety
Malcolm Jenkins, tackle
Zach Strief and center Brian de la Puente. Players who may need to be cut in order for the Saints to get under the cap include linebacker
Will Smith, safety
Roman Harper, receiver
Lance Moore, defensive tackle Broderick Bunkley, cornerback
Jabari Greer and running back
Pierre Thomas.
Those are all tough decisions. Keeping Graham, on the other hand, won’t be a tough decision. Just an expensive one.
gonna miss ya Greer. was a good ride Vilma
...bye.
im perfectly fine rolling with Bush and some dudes off the skreets.
.
to Vilma, Greer, Harper and Smith. Time to trade up for Dennard and get some LB help. The defense could be deadly next year. 
he had some decent years. 