Derek Carr Joins the Saints

Well as I previously predicted, former Raiders quarterback Derek Carr has ended up in New Orleans. The nine year veteran signed a four year deal worth 150 million dollars this previous Monday, and the Saints are hoping that Carr will be able to lead them to an NFC South title in 2023. With Tom Brady’s retirement, and the South being weaker than ever, the Saints are now prime for accomplishing this and going home as NFC South champs next year. They are the only team in the South with a competent quarterback now, as the only quarterback on any of the other three teams to have started a game this previous season was the 2022 third round pick Desmond Ridder of the Atlanta Falcons. The Saints won just seven games last year with Andy Dalton under center for most of the season, so with an upgrade at the quarterback position it is inevitable for the Saints to improve. An 8-9 record won the division this previous season, so this move instantly makes the Saints the favorites to win the South.

This move isn’t just beneficial for the Saints however, as Carr will finally get some consistency with his team’s roster, something he has been unable to maintain with the Raiders over the years. After adding Trevor Penning in the first round last year, the Saints have an offensive line that consists of four former first round picks and one former second rounder. Carr once had an offensive line this amazing with the Raiders, and that year was his 2016 MVP-worthy performance. He hasn’t come close to repeating that amazing season, but he has proven to be close to a top 10 quarterback and has been able to take his team to the postseason. Although he is leaving a Raiders team that was loaded with weapons such as Josh Jacobs, Darren Waller, Davante Adams, and Hunter Renfrow, the stacked offensive line unit of the Saints will make up for this drop off in weapons. And despite this drop off, he is still joining a team with a decent core of weapons that consists of Pro-Bowl runningback Alvin Kamara, former Offensive Player of the Year Michael Thomas, 2022 first round pick Chris Olave, and the veteran Pro-Bowler Jarvis Landry. Not to mention the Saints have one of the better defenses in the NFL, allowing the second least amount of passing yards in 2022.

When you take into consideration how good the Saints have been in previous years without a competent quarterback, it is easy to see how they could jump to being the favorites in the South with the addition of a proven quarterback like Carr. And although 150 million dollars seems like a lot of money, it is essentially a bargain nowadays in the NFL, especially when compared to the contracts of other top of the line quarterbacks. Carr is also just 31 years old, which is decently young for a QB in the NFL. This gives the Saints hope that if Carr does work out for them in the short term, then they have their franchise QB for the foreseeable future. Overall, this is a win-win for both sides as Carr gets consistency within his roster, and the Saints get a competent quarterback to help boost them to become the favorites within the NFC South.

(Cover image via: Gaelen Morse, Getty Images)