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          Saints mailbag: Junior Galette's sack bonus and future free agents

          • Mike Triplett, ESPN Staff WriterDec 20, 2014, 08:00 AM ET
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            • Covered Saints for eight years at New Orleans Times-Picayune
            • Previously covered LSU football, San Francisco 49ers
            • Iowa native and University of Iowa graduate
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          Thanks for submitting your New Orleans Saints questions to me on Twitter. Send them anytime @MikeTriplett.

          @MikeTriplett: No, Junior Galette's bonus won’t start kicking in until 2016 if he earns it. But I’m glad you asked because I’ve been meaning to write about this as an intriguing side-note over the next two weeks.

          Galette has nine sacks this season, and if he gets three more, he’ll earn $6.5 million in future roster bonuses and escalators which are also tied to him being on the roster and/or playing a certain amount of snaps. He’d get a $2.5 million roster bonus in 2016, a $1.5 million roster bonus in 2017, a $1.3 million escalator in 2018 and a $1.2 million escalator in 2019.

          It’s an interesting clause because it gives Galette an incentive to go all-out for sacks over the past two games. I don’t envision that being a big problem, since that’s Galette’s primary role anyway. But still, it points out the inherent flaw in putting individual-stat incentives into a player’s contract.

          As for Galette’s upcoming cap costs, it’s also worth pointing out that his 2015 cap figure will be greatly reduced in the spring. Right now he’s scheduled to count $15.45 million against the Saints’ 2015 cap because of a guaranteed $12.5 million roster bonus. But that will almost certainly be converted into a signing bonus and spread out over the final five years of his deal, which will drop his 2015 cap hit to $5.45 million.

          @MikeTriplett: I’m guessing the theory here is that the Saints might be able to get Cameron Jordan and Akiem Nicks at discounted rates because they’re having down seasons. But I don’t see it automatically working out that way. Both players might figure they could play their way into bigger contracts next year.

          I do think the Saints would like to keep both guys long-term, so it’s possible. But these things are pretty hard to predict. Just look at this year, when Galette signed a new long-term deal with two years left on his old one, while Jimmy Graham's new deal came down to the last possible minute under the franchise tag. It all depends on how much the Saints offer.

          @MikeTriplett: I’ve answered this question at least once in a mailbag this year -- but my outlook is changing a little bit. In one respect, I wouldn’t expect the Saints to invest too much in any one running back since they don’t usually use one guy as a featured back and they have good depth with Khiry Robinson, Pierre Thomas, Travaris Cadet and whatever undrafted rookie they’re sure to unearth next year.

          However, with the Saints going through some growing pains this season as they transition to their next generation of leaders and core players, Mark Ingram is the kind of guy they might want to invest in. He’s been so reliable, as they’ve leaned on him more heavily than any back since Deuce McAllister. They might value him more than they’ve valued backs in the past.

          Then again, Ingram might also want to go someplace where he thinks he’ll have an even better shot to be featured more regularly as an every-down back. So there are a lot of unknowns -- including how the market for him will develop. It will probably cost around $4 million per year to sign Ingram, give or take a million.

          @MikeTriplett: The Saints did use their base 3-4 defense more than usual against the Chicago Bears. But they’ve been using the 3-4 more this season, in general, than they did last season. It was just more noticeable Monday night since Galette was limited to 27 snaps because of a knee injury -- leaving Parys Haralson and Ramon Humber as the outside linebackers. Since Galette is almost always rushing the passer, he often looks more like a defensive end even when he’s lined up as a 3-4 outside linebacker.

          I’m curious to see if the Saints make that a permanent tweak in obvious run situations, since run defense isn’t Galette’s strength. But we won’t learn too much this Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons since Galette said he’s still not back to 100 percent and expects to be used similar to the way he was last week.

          Also, the Saints will probably be in their nickel and dime packages for most of the game since Atlanta uses so many multiple-receiver formations.