It was a bit of a surprise when the New Orleans Saints opted to pay Derek Carr a huge chunk of change in the 2023 offseason because it felt like, maybe finally, the team would take a step back and rebuild. They needed to fix their salary cap situation but, once again, decided to kick the can down the road.
Two years into the Carr experiment in New Orleans and, while it's not all Carr's fault, to say that it has been a failure would be an understatement. The team hasn't made the playoffs and Dennis Allen was fired last year after a 2-7 start.
People love bagging on Carr and while his teams' lack of success aren't all on him, when you're the quarterback, you're going to get the glory when things are good and the blame when things are bad. Things are bad for Carr's team right now, so naturally, he's getting the blame.
Josh Dubow decided to continue piling on Carr, stating that, "When Carr gets his $10 million roster bonus next month he will be the only player in NFL history to get paid more than $200 million and never be part of a playoff win". Ouch.
Derek Carr is about to make history, and not the good kind
Carr himself has only appeared in one playoff game but his Raiders made it to the playoffs in 2016. He was injured late in the regular-season, which ruined not just his potential MVP chances but the Raiders' chances of winning the AFC West that season and getting to host a playoff game. Connor Cook started for the Raiders in the playoffs instead and they got bounced by the Texans.
It wasn't until the 2021 season that Carr would make the playoffs and finally get to start a postseason game. It was a close game but ultimately, the Bengals won in a nailbiter and Carr's playoff record kicked off at 0-1.
Carr spent one more year in Las Vegas and then moved on to the Saints where he's yet to make the playoffs so that one playoff game is all he has on his resume. Even guys considered to be on his level like Kirk Cousins have won a playoff game so it's just another thing people can dunk on Carr for.