Saints' QB Quandary: Offseason Moves Could Change Landscape Of the Room

As we enter the second week of the offseason for the Saints, it'll certainly heat up some. The team is expected to have in-house evaluations of players and coaches, general manager Mickey Loomis will speak with the media, more coaching interviews should happen and there's a lot more on the horizon for New Orleans.

It's time to bring back our State of the Saints offseason outlooks for each position, which will look at who is coming back, the free agents and the priority level for addressing the spot. We'll kick it off with the quarterbacks.

Saints Quarterback Overview

Derek Carr, Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler at Thursday's Saints training camp practice. | Hendrix Media | Saints News Network

Players Under Contract: Derek Carr, Spencer Rattler, Jake Haener, Ben DiNucci (reserve/future)

Free Agent Outlook: None

Priority Level: High

The Saints defense needs major attention going into the new season, but figuring out what they'll do with the quarterback spot is absolutely a priority for New Orleans. Of course, the most important thing is finding their next head coach. Before we totally jump the gun, let's look at some numbers.

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Derek Carr's Stats From 2024

Here's something you might not know, but Carr doesn't have any official rankings with his stats because the minimum threshold required by the NFL for theirs, a quarterback must have 306 passing attempts. Carr had 279.

Derek Carr went 5-5 in 2024, finishing 189/279 (67.7%) for 2,145 yards. He averaged 7.7 yards/completion, had a long of 71 and had 15 touchdown passes to 5 interceptions. He was sacked 8 times and had a 101.0 rating. The 10 games was the lowest amount of his career.

Some things you can measure from last year would be a few things, and this is just using numbers is all. His average went up from 7.1 to 7.7, which would actually tie him with Justin Herbert, Josh Allen and Kirk Cousins. They tied for 8th in the league. The long went up from 58 to 71 yards, which ties for 9th with Geno Smith and Aaron Rodgers. The 101.0 rating is right below Josh Allen and Tua Tagovailoa (101.4) and is above Jayden Daniels (100.1).

Spencer Rattler Stats From 2024

With Carr out, Rattler ended up getting 6 starts for the Saints. He didn't win any games, and before you rush to judgement on that, Carr didn't win a game until Week 11 of his rookie season. Other quarterbacks have had it happen too.

Rattler's stats from the season, which includes some relief efforts and such, saw him finish 130/228 (57%) for 1,317 yards. He averaged 5.8 yards/completion and had 4 touchdowns with 5 picks. He had a long of 41 and finished with a 70.4 rating. He ended up getting sacked 22 times, losing 136 yards.

What Goals Should the New Orleans Saints Aim For In 2025?

The Offseason Dilemma

Is Derek Carr the QB for the Saints in 2025? — Nov 17, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr (4) during warmups before the game against the Cleveland Browns at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

There's plenty of thoughts here when it comes to the quarterback position, but the main one is whether or not the Saints have Derek Carr as their starter for 2025. The contract brings complexity to the table for New Orleans, and the uncertainty comes into play with a new head coach and the team's desired direction.

A restructure could save the Saints around $31 million, and he's currently carrying a $51.5 million cap hit. The $40 million decision is that the third day of the new league year would trigger his $10 million roster bonus and $30 million in guarantees. He's openly said that he won't take a pay cut, but would restructure.

If New Orleans prefers to move on from Carr, then they're going to have to designate him a post-June 1 release. That would save the team $30 million that would get tacked on to 2026, but the Saints are going to have to carry the salary until then. They're also in this boat because they restructured him in the first place.

As of right now, Carr is likely the quarterback of the Saints in 2025. So, is this the right call? It's not so simple to say yes or no.

The direction of the team is what's going to be important to pay close attention to here. New Orleans has operated under the belief that they can compete in the NFC South, but they haven't been able to. It's likely the last ride for their big three veterans Demario Davis, Cam Jordan and Tyrann Mathieu. That's assuming they all return. They might push the chips in one last time to see if they can get back into the postseason, and Carr would be the likely guy to help lead them on offense.

On the flip side, if the Saints embraced some type of rebuild and were to be honest with themselves in how they will compete next season, then it might be feasible to give Spencer Rattler a shot as the starter and bring in a one-year veteran bridge quarterback to compete. I'm just spitballing here, but a Jimmy Garoppolo, Carson Wentz or a Josh Dobbs could be something you could realistically afford. They could also look to the draft, but this isn't a stellar class.

Something else to consider for the Saints is another potential changing of the guard for their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. I really like what Andrew Janocko has brought to the table, and there's some good things Klint Kubiak did, but it was just inconsistent. They have to get better in that area and execute, and more turnover on the coaching staff coupled with a new offensive scheme again seems a bit much.

It's going to be fascinating to see what the play is here for New Orleans, and we'll soon find out what type of mentality they're going to have going into 2025. Being out of the playoffs for four straight years is not acceptable, and it stems real questions like who should lead the charge and whether or not they have what it takes to really do what they want to do.

It's really hard to get a gauge on what the Saints will actually do for the new season. Recency bias would suggest sticking with familiarity and running it back because of the team's avid belief in injuries being their biggest problem. However, it goes well beyond that. We'll see where things land, but figuring the quarterback spot in another offseason post-Drew Brees is yet another thing for New Orleans.