Saints $150 Million Star Surprisingly Called Trade Candidate

The New Orleans Saints recently made it clear who their quarterback is going to be for the 2025 season.

There was a lot of chatter about Derek Carr's future with the team, but general manager Mickey Loomis addressed the media and said that the team is comfortable with him as the team's quarterback despite the team's cap issues. The Saints have made progress in getting cap compliant ahead of the new NFL league year beginning next week, but there is a lot of work to do.

Until the Saints make some sort of alteration to Carr's deal, technically anything could happen but the Saints were pretty clear about his future with the team. While this is the case, Bleacher Report's Moe Moton suggested Carr could be a "surprise" trade piece.

"Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football also mentioned that while talks between Carr and new head coach Kellen Moore went well, the team and player 'still have some contract stuff to figure,'" Moton said. "The NFL draft is an unpredictable selection process. If Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders slide in the order, the Saints could attempt to move up for one of them. In that scenario, Carr could become available via trade.

"The 33-year-old has a no-trade clause, but he could welcome a change of scenery if the Saints add a quarterback with a top-10 pick. (Ian Rapoport) believes Carr would have a market that might include the Pittsburgh Steelers."

This seems very unlikely at this point. The Saints need to address his cap number, but Loomis was pretty clear about Carr. He signed a four-year, $150 million deal with New Orleans and currently is scheduled to have a cap hit over $51 million in 2025.

At this point in time, the chances of New Orleans landing a top-10 quarterback does not look great right now. In order to get either Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders, the Saints would likely need to trade up into the top three.

Currently, New Orleans holds the No. 9 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft. There is a chance they could use that to package a deal for a top-three pick, but it's not likely.

Carr is coming off of a 2024 season with the Saints where he threw for 2,145 yards, 15 touchdowns, and five interceptions in 10 games. He completed 67.7% of his passes as well.