Field Yates reports that the Saints have cut DT Nick Fairley as a non-football illness designation.
- Yates points out that Fairley was owed a $750,000 roster bonus and his $4.25M base salary would have become fully guaranteed if he was on their roster as of Wednesday.
- According to Mike Triplett, there’s still a grievance pending over Fairley’s contract and how much is still guaranteed.
It was clear that Fairley could be released at some point this offseason, given that it was determined last offseason that he has a heart condition that likely would prevent him from playing football.
Fairley, 30, is a former first-round pick of the Lions back in 2011. He played out his rookie contract in Detroit before signing on a one-year, prove-it deal with the Rams in 2015.
The Saints signed Fairley to another one-year deal in 2016 before they agreed to four-year, $28 million contract that included $14 million guaranteed this last March.
However, Fairley was absent from the team’s OTA practices because of heart trouble and opened the season on the non-football injury list.
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Fairley will free up $1 million of available cap space while creating $6 million in dead money.
In 2016, Fairley appeared in all 16 games for the Saints and recorded 43 tackles and 6.5 sacks. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 34 interior defensive lineman out of 127 qualifying players.
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