As Saints restructures accumulate (headlined by **Derek Carr**‘s), the team carved out enough cap room to retain Chase Young. The moves have also elevated New Orleans to a place where keeping Juwan Johnson was feasible.
The Saints are re-signing Johnson on a three-year deal, according to his agency. Johnson checked in on PFR’s Top 50 Free Agents list, as this year — before **Evan Engram**‘s release — brought a thin tight end contingent. But Johnson was one of the headliners. He is staying in New Orleans on a third contract.
Johnson will score a nice raise on this deal. The veteran pass catcher will be tied to $30.75MM, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. Of that toal, $21.25MM will come guaranteed. Going into his age-29 season, Johnson is coming off his second 500-plus-yard performance. Even though the Saints are changing schemes by transitioning to the Kellen Moore era, Carr will still have Johnson to target moving forward.
The five-year Saint had played out a two-year, $12MM contract. It is worth wondering if Sean Payton’s Saints West headquarters helped move the price to where it was, as the Broncos are in need of a tight end — even as they roster ex-Saints Adam Trautman and Lucas Krull — as well. Denver hosted Engram on Monday but has not signed him. Regardless of which team drove up Johnson’s price, a former UDFA will benefit and now be tied to an eight-figure AAV.
More to come.