Saints Urged To Make 'Bold' Decision Involving Derek Carr

What will the Saints do with Carr this offseason?

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

What will the New Orleans Saints do with quarterback Derek Carr this offseason?

Carr looked good over the last two seasons with the Saints when he was healthy. The four-time Pro Bowler had 25 touchdown passes and just eight interceptions in 2023. He had 15 touchdowns and five interceptions in 2024, but only appeared in 10 games.

The Saints are fortunate to have him, but with all of the team's cap question marks, there has been chatter about moving on from him this offseason. Everything is still up in the air, but ESPN's Aaron Schatz made a "bold" projection that New Orleans shouldn't restructure his deal this offseason.

"Don't restructure Derek Carr's contract," Schatz said. "The Saints are in big trouble. They are currently a league-leading $54 million over the cap. They also have very few players they can cut to get actual salary cap relief. According to OverTheCap.com, there is no cut the Saints could make before March 12 that would save them more than $4 million in cap space. They're going to have to get below the cap by restructuring contracts, which just moves more dead money down the line and makes it harder to get a clean slate and rebuild the roster.

"The Saints need to take their medicine as soon as possible, and one way to do that is to avoid restructuring Carr's contract. That's going to be very hard to do, because a Carr restructure would save the Saints $30 million on the cap. But it would also tie New Orleans to him for a couple of more seasons and push more money down the line, which makes it harder to split from Carr anytime soon. Yes, Carr had a 63.4 QBR in 2024, but hanging on to a 34-year-old quarterback widely seen as mediocre is emblematic of the Saints' problems. They need to resist a Carr restructure so they can finally move on from him after the 2025 season."

This is going to be a topic that will be discussed for awhile. Hopefully, it won't take too long to find out what the solution will be.

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