3 players who robbed the New Orleans Saints blind in 2024

The 2024 season left a lot to be desired for New Orleans Saints fans, as the team finished with just five wins and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year. The team's failures in 2024 can't be pointed in just one direction, as there was a lot wrong with the Saints this past season but three players making a decent amount of dough simply didn't do their part.

Let's take a look at three members of the Saints who robbed the team blind this past season. This could mean they didn't play well, were injured, or maybe a combination of things. Let's get into it.

Derek Carr

The Saints should have stopped kicking the salary cap can down the road after the 2022 season and started the rebuild then but they opted to continue kicking it down the road and signed Derek Carr to a lengthy contract. We all know now that this was the wrong decision as Carr has not been the quarterback the Saints front office was hoping that he'd be when they brought him in.

This past year saw Carr started 10 of the Saints' 17 games and he threw for 2,145 yards, 15 touchdowns, and five picks while getting sacked eight times. There were some games where Carr was fine but other times, he was underwhelming. That's going to happen to quarterbacks but it happened more than it should have and Carr is making a lot of money to be less than average.

That being said, Carr is still better than some of the quarterback options out there (as the Saints saw when he went on to miss the rest of the season) so it's not the absolute worst situation to be in. Still, considering the contract the Saints signed Carr to, missing games and inconsistent play has made his contract a bad decision.

Cam Jordan

Saints love and will always love Cam Jordan but they'd be lying if they said they're not hoping he retires this offseason. Jordan, a first-round pick by the Saints in 2011, has spent the entirety of his 14-year career in New Orleans and until last year, was a dominant player.

Unfortunately, Father Time has caught up to Jordan and he's been less than stellar the past two seasons. Jordan's had just six sacks in the past two seasons combined and looks like a shell of himself.

While Jordan didn't make a boatload of cash in 2024, that changes in 2025 with him set to make $12.5 million and be a $20 million cap hit for the team. Even though he didn't cost the team a ton of money last year, his performance still left plenty to be desired and the hope is that he retires in the offseason.

Jamaal Williams

There's bad signings and then there's Jamaal Williams, who has offered next to nothing for the Saints since the team signed him to a three-year deal worth $12 million in the 2023 offseason. Since joining the Saints in 2023, Williams has only rushed for 470 yards and two touchdowns, a far cry from the 17 rushing touchdowns he had in 2022 when he was with the Lions.

The Saints signed Williams hoping to have a nice one-two punch with Alvin Kamara but that's not what played out. Fortunately, New Orleans can get out of Williams' contract this offseason and that's likely what they should do.

Each of these players are here for different reasons. Carr is making a boatload of money yet missed seven games and even when he did play didn't always play that well. Jordan is simply too slow to play the position and needs to hang up the cleats. Williams has just not been the player the Saints were hoping they'd get when they signed him.

The hope is that the Saints will finally stop kicking the salary cap can down the road and go into the much-needed rebuild phase. Yes, they might be bad for a few years but had they started the rebuild in 2023 when many said they needed to, they could maybe be out of that tunnel by now.

Live and learn.