Saints-Derek Carr Trade Would Be Far From Eye-Popping Deal

The National Football League offseason is about to really heat up over the next few weeks.

Free agency will kick off in one week on March 9 and soon enough we'll see the new league year arrive and plenty of movement around the league, including trades, of course. For the New Orleans Saints, the biggest thing they need to do this offseason is maintain the momentum of the second half of the 2025 season. New Orleans showed it can be a threat in the NFC South with Tyler Shough under center and now the team needs to maximize his rookie deal and add pieces around while the quarterback position is cheap.

That's the big story of the offseason. But not all. Another thing to consider is whether the Saints will be able to trade Derek Carr for draft capital. The buzz has been loud around the veteran signal-caller, who said himself that he'd return to the NFL for the right opportunity.

Will Derek Carr come out of retirement?

Dec 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr (4) looks to pass against New York Giants linebacker Darius Muasau (53) during the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The noise hasn't necessarily led to a fleshed-out and expansive market, though. Things are seemingly in a waiting period at this moment. While this is the case, The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt did say that if a market does develop, the likely price tag would be a Day 3 draft pick.

"Derek Carr: The feeling around the league is that Carr really wants to unretire and play in 2026," Rosenblatt wrote. "He has said that he only wants to return if he’s playing for a contender. The Jets were prepared to sign him (and he was prepared to sign with them) in 2023 before Aaron Rodgers became a possibility.

"Some still in the building now were big fans of Carr then, and Glenn has known him for a long time — Glenn and David Carr, Derek’s brother, were teammates on the initial iteration of the Houston Texans in 2002, and Derek used to spend a lot of time at the Texans facility as an 11-year-old. The Saints hold his rights but it sounds like it would only take a Day 3 draft pick to get him in a trade. The question is whether Carr wants to be a Jet; I don’t see this happening as of now."

Rosenblatt is an insider for the New York Jets, a team that has popped up as a speculative fit for Carr. But Carr specifically said he only wants to return for a contender, which seems unlikely. Most contenders have their quarterbacks already in place. It's part of the reason why they're contenders. The Jets are a quarterback-needy team, so it's interesting that Rosenblatt reported about the potential cost to acquire Carr.

But at this moment, there's no clear path to any deal.