Aside from hiring a head coach and staff, the biggest decision for the New Orleans Saints this offseason is at the quarterback position. The Saints must decide if they want to proceed with Derek Carr as the starter, and continue to carry his $50+ million cap hit, or if they wanted to part ways with the veteran and go in a new direction. While it’s still early in the offseason, New Orleans has reportedly made a decision already.
NOF’s Nick Underhill and Mike Triplett are reporting that the team plans to keep Carr for the 2025 season. Speaking with Mickey Loomis, Kellen Moore, and Jeff Ireland in Indianapolis for the Scouting Combine, the understanding is that Carr will remain with the team, and New Orleans will try to work with his contract to open up more cap space.
After talking with Mickey Loomis, Kellen Moore and Jeff Ireland in Indy, seems clear that the Saints aren’t planning on a reset. They’ll continue to stay budget conscious like in recent years. But Loomis said he expects them to be even more active in free agency than last year. https://t.co/mW9BiicrRB
— Mike Triplett (@MikeTriplett) February 26, 2025
Of course, this news didn’t go over well with Saints fans, who have been ready to move on from Carr since the year he arrived in New Orleans. All the frustration was pointed at Mickey Loomis, who justifiably gets a ton of blame for everything since he is the team’s general manager.
Saints plan to keep Derek Carr for 2025
Derek Carr has a no-trade clause, and the the franchise wouldn’t have got much cap space relief if he was released, so it’s not entirely shocking that he’ll be sticking around, but it is frustrating for fans. It’s especially frustrating when the decision is accompanied with the message from Loomis that New Orleans will continue to be budget conscious in the 2025 offseason, like they have in recent years.
All this says to fans is that Loomis hasn’t learned anything from the team’s recent failures, and that future years will be more of the same underwhelming results. Unfortunately, this is on brand for Loomis, who didn’t even want to move on from former head coach Dennis Allen.
The long time general manager continues to delay an inevitable rebuild, and he’s seemingly banking on first-time head coach Kellen Moore to figure everything out and get the Saints back on track.