Canal Street Chronicles
Carr will likely return for his third season in New Orleans.
There has been a lot of rumors swirling regarding the future of Derek Carr with the New Orleans Saints. Many thought that with the new regime, there could be a major change at the quarterback position, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
On Wednesday, Nick Underhill reported that the Saints are likely going to stick with Carr for the 2025 season.
Carr’s two-year career in New Orleans has been disappointing to say the least. In 2023, Carr was solid, throwing for 3,878 yards, 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions while leading the Saints to a 9-8 record and missing the playoffs by one game
In 2024, the New Orleans Saints started the season off hot as Carr and company scored over 40 points and got off to a 2-0 record before things went drastically downhill. Carr was injured multiple times during the season and finished the year playing 10 games and throwing for 2,145 yards, 15 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Even when he was on the field, the offense was missing something after those first two weeks.
Saints fans were already calling for the end of the Derek Carr-era in New Orleans after the season ended, especially because he’s carrying a 51-million-dollar cap hit in 2025 and has refused to redo his contract. But to make matters worse, when New Orleans was hosting the Super Bowl and guys like Sean Payton and Jameis Winston, who aren’t even on the team anymore, were repping the city, the Saints QB1 was nowhere to be found.
That did not sit well with Saints fans.
Despite all that, if we’re being completely honest, Carr probably gives them the best chance to win in 2025 out of all their other options. Spencer Rattler, Jake Haener, a rookie or a free agent quarterback aren’t going to step in and turn this team around right away. By sticking with Carr, they give themselves the best chance to win...maybe seven games?
In my opinion, the Saints are not in “win now” mode like they’ve been pretending to be for the past few seasons. Their window closed when Drew Brees walked out the door, but I could understand trying to make it work with Sean Payton still there, but when he left, they should’ve just fully committed to rebuilding.
With Kellen Moore coming in, it felt like the perfect time to fix the cap, take a year or two and get some good draft picks and then reset. However, they do not appear to want to do that, with Mickey Loomis even saying he expects them to be even more active in free agency than last year, per Mike Triplett.
This news is not going to sit well with Saints fans, but honestly, it should’ve been expected. There was too much good happening with the coaching staff for everything to go the way the fans wanted it to.
