The new head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Kellen Moore, held his introductory press conference on Thursday after winning Super Bowl LIX as the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles. In Philadelphia, he had arguably the NFL's most talented roster to work with, while in New Orleans that will not be the case.
Moore inherits a challenging cap situation due to the organization's attempt at going all-in in the final stages of quarterback Drew Brees' career and thus a roster that has a multitude of needs. First and foremost, Moore and the Saints must decide what they want to do at quarterback.
NFL insider Ian Rapoport, appearing on The Insiders on NFL Network later on Thursday, gave his view of the quarterback situation in New Orleans.
"We do not know whether or not Derek Carr is going to be the starting quarterback of the Saints, mostly but not exclusively because we do not know what his salary is going to be," Rapoport said. "Are the Saints going to leave it untouched? If they leave it untouched, I'd say there's a decent chance he's there."
Carr is under contract for the next two years, at least for the time being, but he is coming off a left hand injury. In the 10 games he did play in 2024, he averaged 214.5 passing yards per game and threw 15 touchdowns and five interceptions. The Saints went 5-5 in those games.
Rapoport questioned whether Carr's contract could be adjusted one way or another. Carr has a cap hit of $51.458 million next season, according to Spotrac.
"Are they going to want him to take some sort of a pay cut, take a little bit less?" he said.
Rapoport did acknowledge that one of his colleagues had previously reported that would not happen.
He continued, "Is Derek Carr going to want a little bit more? I don't know if the Saints would do that. So, where do they fit contractually?"
Carr remains under contract and carries a dead cap hit of $50.132 million if the Saints were to cut him before March 16, per Spotrac.
"Moneywise, they don't really get a lot of salary cap help from moving on from Derek Carr," Rapoport said. "It would really be just do they want another quarterback in there moving forward, and those answers have not yet come for the New Orleans."
New Orleans would save only $1.326 million if they cut Carr before March 16. If the Saints chose to go in a different direction with their starting quarterback, they could opt for Spencer Rattler, a fifth-round pick who started six games as a rookie in the past season.
"[He] had some moments," Rapoport said. "He's pretty talented, obviously a late draft pick, not a lot of experience, but he's talented. Does Kellen Moore, and do the Saints, believe that he could play as well, and then maybe improve maybe more so than Derek Carr, obviously who is a little bit later on in his career?"
Rattler threw for 1,317 yards, four touchdowns, and five interceptions in seven appearances this season and completed only 57.0% of his passes. He was also sacked 22 times.
"Do they want to go the Spencer Rattler route, or maybe bring in someone else and say you know what we're cutting it clean here, we're moving on, we're going to have a new quarterback?" Rapoport said.
"A lot of questions still to answer."
Without any clarity at the sport's most important position, the Saints enter the offseason with a major question mark hanging over the organization and new head coach Kellen Moore.
