The New Orleans Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis has made up his mind to decline the fifth-year option for the offensive guard Cesar Ruiz, leading him to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2023-24 NFL season.
Ruiz got selected by the Saints with the 24th overall pick out of Michigan in 2020 and entered the fourth year of his four-year, $12,679,205 rookie deal including a $6,781,240 signing bonus in 2023.
The young guard played for Michigan during his collegiate days from 2017-2019 before entering the league draft following the junior season and was a two-time All-Big Ten center having 31 career starts.
The Saints will not pick up the fifth-year option of rookie guard Cesar Ruiz
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Saints are declining to exercise the fifth-year option for the former Michigan center Cesar Ruiz which would have been $14.175 million fully guaranteed for the 2024 season per Over The Cap, however, now Cesar will have to play out the final year of his rookie contract in 2023 and hit the free agency in the next year.
The #Saints are not picking up the fifth-year option for OL Cesar Ruiz, source said. He now heads into a contract year for New Orleans.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 1, 2023
The 6-foot-4, 316-pounder started 40 of the 46 games with New Orleans over his past three seasons and was the only offensive player of the franchise to start all 17 contests in 2021, albeit the young star missed the end of 2022 with an injury.
However, the Saints could still negotiate a long-term contract with the 23-year-old during the year to prevent him from becoming a free agent as they may also lose left guard Andrus Peat who is in the final year of his contract, hence, losing both of the team’s starting guards after this season can weigh heavy on them.
The Saints have recently selected Old Dominion offensive lineman Nick Saldiveri who was a right tackle in college but became a guard in the NFL with the first choice in the fourth-round draft pick and traded two later Day 3 picks to move up to the 103rd overall selection.
Do you think that it was a bad move by the franchise? You can share your thoughts with us in the comments.
