Saints set to make a decision on Derek Carr, per reports

Could this be the end of the road for Carr in New Orleans?

The New Orleans Saints offseason will be filled with tough decisions, one being the future of QB Derek Carr. Since 2023, Carr has had an up-and-down time in New Orleans. The Saints were hard to stop when he was playing well, but the issue was Carr’s consistency and questionable decisions on the field. The factor that made his play even worse was the contract, and although it looked great at the beginning, it has become one that crippled the Saints’ finances. This situation is similar to what happened with Russell Wilson in Denver, where they had to make a difficult decision. The Saints are in the same spot going into the offseason, and per Mike Garafolo, New Orleans is set to decide Derek Carr’s future with the team in the next few weeks.

One of the things Mike Garafolo mentioned that is important to note is the head coach decision. Everything is pointing to Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator Kellen Moore becoming the next head coach of New Orleans, but that needs to be made official first before this QB decision is made. If Moore is the hire, Carr’s fit in his system is a worry. Yes, the young coordinator has been excellent with adapting his system to the player personnel, but Moore has never coached a team with a non-mobile QB. This may be the main factor in this decision’s direction, but money is also a massive factor.

Derek Carr is owed $10 million guaranteed and a $30 million base salary that becomes guaranteed on March 12th. Per OverTheCap, if the Saints cut Carr before June 1st, it would be a massive $50 million dead money cap hit, and only $1.4 million cap space is saved. If New Orleans decides to cut Carr, a post-June 1st cut would be best. It is still a move that will bring a significant dead money cap hit of $21 million but would save $30 million. If the Saints go in that direction, the team will have to make a bunch of other restructures and roster moves to get under the cap by March 12th. New Orleans can also trade Carr before or after June 1st. If they do it before, the Saints will save $11 million and have a dead cap hit of $40 million. If he is traded after June 1st, the Saints will save $40 million and only a dead cap hit of $11 million. The issue with trading Carr is he has a no-trade clause that will make this option very unlikely.

With the New Orleans Saints entering a new era of football, fixing the cap and becoming a younger team needs to be the focus, and moving on from Derek Carr would be a great start in accomplishing this plan.