New Orleans Saints safety Roman Harper agreed to the Saints’ one-year tender offer of $2.521 million on Monday, according to a league source. He will likely officially sign the deal today.
Like fellow restricted free agent Pierre Thomas, who signed his deal Monday, Harper was facing an 11 p.m. deadline last night before the Saints had the right to lower his offer to 110 percent of his 2009 salary. In Harper’s case, that would have represented a nearly-$2 million pay cut.
Harper’s deal was worth more than Thomas’ $1.684 million deal because the Saints made him an offer at a higher level of compensation in case another team tried to sign him away. Harper’s compensation level was a first-round draft pick, while Thomas’ deal was at the second-round compensation level.