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There are 32 teams in the NFL, and nine have failed to win more than two games. We're more than halfway done with the 2024 season! What's happening to the sport I love? (Elite quarterback play is separating the haves and the have-nots is what's happening -- but that's a take for another column and another day.) Every Tuesday, I'll spin the previous week of NFL football forward, looking at what the biggest storylines mean and what comes next. We'll take a first look at the consequences of "Monday Night Football," break down a major trend or two, and highlight some key individual players and plays. There will be film. There will be stats (a whole section of them). And there will be fun. This week, we try to fix the broken Saints, preview what should happen on NFL trade deadline day and size up the Raiders' issues. Let's jump in. Jump to a section:
The Big Thing: How to fix the Saints
Deadline wish list: What I want to see
Second Take: Never hire the interim coach
Mailbag: Answering questions from ... you
Next Ben Stats: Wild Week 9 stats
Monday Night Mayhem   The Big Thing: How to fix the SaintsEvery week, this column will kick off with one wide look at a key game, player or trend from the previous slate of NFL action. What does it mean for the rest of the season? The New Orleans Saints are $68.4 million over the 2025 salary cap ceiling, per Roster Management Systems. That's a truly bananas number. No NFL team has managed its salary cap space as aggressively as the Saints have done under general manager Mickey Loomis, and it's not remotely close. In the waning years of Drew Brees' career, through the twilight of the Sean Payton era and into the Dennis Allen addendum that ended Monday morning with Allen's firing, Loomis has not just spent aggressively -- he has consistently borrowed money from future cap years to make his current team cap compliant. Hence the $68.4 million he owes to the 2025 cap before the league year begins this coming March.
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