At this juncture, it appears Derek Carr will once again be the starting quarterback of the New Orleans Saints in 2025.
The Saints gave Carr a four-year, $150 million contract before the 2023 season, and though there was trade speculation at the start of the offseason, the Saints made the decision to keep him around and instead restructure his contract to free up $30 million in 2025 cap space.
Does that mean the 34-year-old will be the Saints' long-term plan at the position, however? Absolutely not. There's a very good chance 2025 will be Carr's last season as the starter in New Orleans, and the biggest question right now is how the team plans to replace him.
One NFL writer sees a high-profile replacement falling into the Saints' lap in the upcoming draft.
On Wednesday, Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports predicted that the Saints would draft Colorado's Shedeur Sanders with the ninth pick, giving them a potential franchise quarterback and solidifying their eventaual exit strategy from the Carr contract.
"Surprise! The Saints go with Sanders, as new head coach Kellen Moore sees a lot of Jared Goff in the game of the Colorado quarterback," Trapasso wrote.
The 23-year-old son of NFL Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, Shedeur made his mark at Colorado over the past two seasons by passing for 7,364 yards, with 64 touchdowns to 13 interceptions.
He's not known for remarkable athleticism or arm talent, but he's an accurate passer with good pocket instincts, and he's one of only two quarterbacks in this year's draft with a consensus first-round grade.
Even if the Saints aren't enamored with Sanders right now, the thought of having a potential future franchise quarterback on a rookie contract has to be enticing after years of salary cap woes. It's hard to see Sanders escaping New Orleans if he's somehow still available when they get on the clock.
Salary cap numbers on Saints' recent signings revealed, shedding light on how much room New Orleans has left
The salary cap is always a talking point for the New Orleans Saints. Every offseason. Every year. With that, analysts and people on social media always call for them to shut down their process and restart anew.
They won't do that with their current front office in charge. We have plenty of evidence that's the case, and this offseason has been yet another. After entering the offseason well over the salary cap, the Saints have not just become compliant. They've opened up a ton of space for this offseason.
Saints' salary cap update after recent signings
According to OverTheCap, the Saints currently have $30.7 million in cap space as of now. That figure follows a flurry of free agency additions that New Orleans has made over the past week.
Check out the 2025 cap numbers for their latest signings below.
- Justin Reid: $3.8 million
- Brandin Cooks: $3.2 million
- Isaac Yiadom: $2 million
- Landon Young: $1.3 million
- Ugo Amadi: $1.1 million
- Will Clapp: $1.2 million
- via Katherine Terrell
As you can see, the Saints consistently kept their cap numbers low. They're affordable, depth options for the most part, outside of Reid, who should start opposite Tyrann Mathieu.
We are still waiting on the cap number for Dillon Radunz's one-year deal that the team announced to begin this week. That number will be included in this list once his contract details become available.
Keep in mind that the Saints are expected to need just above $5.4M in cap space to sign their 2025 rookie class following the NFL Draft.
New Orleans has plenty of space to continue adding talent via free agency or a trade, but they could also choose to keep most of it for potential in-season moves or to roll a bit over to next offseason, one where plenty more salary cap navigating will be required.
