Whispers emerged in December suggesting that the New Orleans Saints could move on from quarterback Derek Carr during the upcoming offseason.
Carr spoke with Katherine Terrell of ESPN on Monday and shared he “wouldn’t take a pay cut” to stay with the Saints after he received a four-year, $150M deal with $100M in total guarantees from New Orleans in March 2023.
“Would I restructure? Absolutely,” Carr explained. “I’ll always help the team that way. But there’s some things that you put out there that you earned. Even in some cases it could be even worse, but I felt confident when I signed it that this would give the team the best flexibility at the time. …But there’s always a kind of respect as a quarterback you’re like, well still we’re in that respectful lane. ‘We’re good. Build the team.’ But yeah, I wouldn’t take anything less to do this. It’s hard enough putting our bodies through it. And you’re trying to get everything you can for your family for it.”
The Saints failed to make the playoffs across the past two seasons with Carr on the roster, and injury setbacks limited him to just 10 games this season. New Orleans fired head coach Dennis Allen in November, and some have speculated that a new coaching staff will want to pick its own quarterback rather than be forced to go forward with Carr even for one season.
However, Carr said on Monday he has “had great conversations with Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and team owner Gayle Benson. As Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio pointed out, the Saints will almost certainly restructure Carr’s deal if they keep him because he’s set to count $51.45M against the salary cap for 2025.
“That’s the life of a quarterback,” Carr told Terrell. “Whenever the season doesn’t end the way [you wanted] that’s the person people look at. ‘Well what money can we free up to get this and do this’ …and I’m fully confident with what I put on tape. I’m not worried, if that’s the case, and it had to change and all that kind of stuff. I’m super confident that whatever it is, I could get anywhere else to play. And so I’m not worried about that, but at the same time, I just want to win.”
According to Pro Football Reference, Carr finished the season ranked 13th in the NFL with a 63.1 adjusted QBR and 10th with a 101.0 passer rating. Over 10 games, he tossed 15 touchdown passes and only five interceptions.
Loomis may feel that Carr gives the 2025 Saints a better chance to win than other veterans who will become available in March, but it remains to be seen how the club’s next coaching staff will want to handle its quarterback situation.