METAIRIE – The Saints will open three of their five minicamp practices to the public next week, the team announced Thursday.

The Saints will hold their three-day full-squad minicamp starting Tuesday at the team’s training facility at 5800 Airline Drive in Metairie. The public is invited to attend the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday practices set for 10:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Coach Sean Payton will also hold practices on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, but those sessions will be closed to the public.

In the event of inclement weather, the team may move practice indoors with little or no advance warning. Fans attending any open practice will not be allowed inside the indoor facility, due to space limitations.

There is no admission charge to watch the minicamp practices and gates will open to the public at 9:30 a.m. each day. Parking will be available in the Zephyr Field parking lot just west of the Saints practice facility.

Saints strong safety Roman Harper has signed a contract extension that will give the club some salary cap relief for this season, NFL.com reported Friday.

The website’s Ian Rapoport reported the deal Harper signed Thursday guarantees him $4 million for this season although other financial terms were not immediately available. It also guarantees the eight-year veteran won’t be cut, Rapoport reported.

Harper was scheduled to make $5.25 million in base salary in 2013 with $2.6 million guaranteed when he was on the roster for the third day of the new league year in March.

Harper, who signed a four-year deal with the team in July 2011, was scheduled to count $7.1 million against the salary cap this season. He was to earn $6 million in base salary with a $7.9 million cap hit in the final year of the contract in 2014.

It was believed the restructured contract includes adds another year to the deal although Harper’s future with the team became more cloudy when the Saints selected Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro with the 15th pick of the draft in April.

A former Alabama standout, Harper has started all 99 games he’s played in and has been selected to two Pro Bowls since being chosen in the second round of the 2006 draft.

He has been a liability at times in pass coverage, but could be better suited for the scheme that new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is installing.

METAIRIE – The Saints waived defensive end Greg Romeus following their third organized team activity of the offseason Thursday morning.

Romeus, a 6-foot-5, 267-pounder, was a seventh-round draft pick in 2011. He was projected to be a high draft pick before he tore his right ACL late in his senior season at the University of Pittsburgh in 2010 and fell in the draft the following spring.

Romeus missed the entire 2011 season while rehabbing his knee injury and then tore his left ACL and MCL during an OTA in June and was had to sit out a second straight season.

The Saints roster now stands at 89 players, one under the offseason limit.

The Saints, who begin their organized team activities (OTAs) on Tuesday, announced Monday that the club waived defensive end Braylon Broughton.

The 6-foot-6, 272-pound Broughton was an undrafted free agent in 2012 who spent the entire season on the practice squad after being cut near the end of training camp.

Broughton, who played his college ball at TCU, was signed to a reserve-futures contract just after the 2012 season.

The Saints will have three OTAs this week. They will have a total of 10 over the next four weeks in addition to a fullsquad minicamp, which is scheduled for June 4-6.

Baton Rouge native Korey Lindsey, a former Scotlandville High School standout, was among six players signed by the Saints on Monday following the team’s three-day minicamp over the weekend.

Lindsey, a 5-foot-10, 194-pound cornerback, participated in the Saints’ rookie minicamp on a tryout basis. He was signed along with wide receiver Brent Leonard, kicker Jose Maltos, defensive end Baraka Atkins, running back Khiry Robinson and guard Jeremiah Warren.

A seventh-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2011, Lindsey, 24, has been on the active roster of the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals for parts of the past two seasons. He’s also spent time on the practice squad of three teams, including the Cardinals.

A two-time all-district pick at Scotlandville High, Lindsey played in 50 games at Southern Illinois with 36 starts and finished with 14 interceptions, which ranks third in school history. He was a first-team FCS All-American selection in both his junior and senior years.

Leonard, 6-2 and 186 pounds, also has Louisiana ties as he played his college ball at UL-Monroe. The former walk-on was the Warhawks’ leading receiver last season with 104 catches for 1,118 yards and 10 TDs and is the school’s all-time leader with 209 receptions.

A native of Keller, Texas, Leonard cancelled a scheduled workout with the Dallas Cowboys to accept a tryout invite from the Saints.

The Saints also announced that they waived running back Shawne Alston, cornerback Ryan Lacy and center Ryan Lee. Alston and Lacy were rookie free agents who signed with the Saints after the draft last month.

With four weeks of their offseason program for veterans already in the books, Saints’ coaches will get their first look at the 18 players they drafted or signed after the draft in a three-day minicamp that begins Friday.

The Saints will have a total of 70 players at their Metairie practice facility as they’re allowed to bring in members of their practice squad last season as well as veterans and rookies who will participate on a tryout basis.

In addition to orientation and classroom work with their position coaches, the players will be on the field twice Friday and Saturday and wrap up the weekend with a single practice Sunday.

The Saints will have the five players they selected in the draft last month on hand along with the 13 college players who agreed to contracts with the team shortly after the three-day draft concluded.

The list includes safety Kenny Vaccaro, the 15th overall pick of the draft, and their two third-round selections — tackle Terron Armstead and defensive tackle John Jenkins.

Wide receiver Kenny Stills Jr. and outside linebacker Rufus Johnson, who were chosen in the fifth and sixth rounds, respectively, round out the list of draftees who will be in attendance.

Two of the top undrafted free agents are quarterback Ryan Griffin, who played last season for former Saints wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson at Tulane, and Stanford linebacker Chase Thomas, who was not taken in the draft after being projected as a third-round pick.