After a brutal 2024 season that culminated in the dismissal of head coach Dennis Allen midway through, the New Orleans Saints have a lot of work ahead of them with new head coach Kellen Moore.
Chief among those decisions is settling the situation as quarterback, which currently features veteran Derek Carr as the starter and rookie Spencer Rattler as the backup - on paper at least.
But with free agency just a few days away, the Saints appear to have made it clear to the world where they stand as the bidding war for the top free agents begins:
They're sticking with Carr.
NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported on Saturday that the Saints have decided to convert "most" of his 2025 compensation into a signing bonus, freeing up a ton of cap space but effectively making Carr un-cuttable and un-tradeable for the 2025 season.
"#Saints starting QB Derek Carr, after numerous talks with the team about his 2025 compensation, is getting most of his salary converted for salary cap reasons, per me and @MikeGarafolo . Carr sticks after all in New Orleans, and he’s set to make his full $40M," Rapoport wrote on Saturday.
Allen is midway through a a four-year contract worth $150 million that he signed back in 2023 after playing his first nine years with the Raiders. Carr had made the Pro Bowl the year before signing with the Saints and there was some belief that he'd be able to give the team the veteran leadership that they'd been lacking at the position since Drew Brees' retirement.
Unfortunately, Carr's best simply hasn't been good enough to elevate the rest of the team. In two seasons with the Saints he's played in 27 games and thrown for 6,023 yards with 40 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. He's still very accurate, completing over 68-percent of his passes, but he's averaging less than 225 yards per game.
Carr may wind up serving as the Saints' bridge quarterback to whatever they have planned with Kellen Moore in 2026 and beyond. For now, the team can only hope that he gives them stability at the position since it feels like his days as a top quarterback are getting further and further away.
