Saints To Sign Derek Carr, Ex-Raiders Quarterback

(CTN News) – The New Orleans Saints have signed Derek Carr, ESPN’s Dianna Russini reported.

“Who dat,” Derek Carr tweeted Monday.

After the Raiders allowed Carr to talk to teams to possibly facilitate a trade, the Saints were among three teams to pursue Derek Carr for several weeks.

A couple of days ago, Carr, 31, visited New Orleans and met with several members of the organization. At the NFL scouting combine last week, he met with the team.

In order to meet the 2023 salary cap, the Saints need to restructure several contracts. Prior to free agency, Michael Thomas restructured his contract. Currently, he is under contract.

Monday morning, he retweeted two articles about Derek Carr signing while posting “Thank you Jesus”.

On Feb. 14, Carr declined to waive a no-trade clause in his contract, which would have guaranteed him $40 million over the next two years. Instead of waiting until free agency began, he was able to sign with any team.

In his ninth season, he finished with 3,522 passing yards, 24 touchdown passes, 14 interceptions (tied for the most in a single season), a 60.8% completion percentage and an 86.3 passer rating.

Carr first worked with Saints coach Dennis Allen in 2014, when he was the Oakland Raiders’ coach. In the 2014 draft, Allen selected Derek Carr in the second round and decided to start him right away.

His nine seasons with the Raiders saw him go 63-79, complete 64.6% of his passes, and throw 35,222 yards and 217 touchdowns. In just four games, Allen was fired.

To this day, Allen and I have a great relationship, Derek Carr said in October. Despite things like that, we’ve always kept in touch, we’ve always been close.”

Carrier was a four-time Pro Bowler for the Raiders. During the 2022 season, he stepped away from the team in a mutual decision after being benched.

Carr made sense for the Saints after they had an uncertain quarterback future in the offseason. The Saints’ Andy Dalton will be a free agent in 2022.

In addition to Winston’s contract, Carr may facilitate Winston’s release. In 2023, Winston will earn $12.8 million in base salary and have started just 10 games since taking over for Taysom Hill. By releasing Winston, the Saints could save $4.4 million against the salary cap, but would lose $11.2 million. It would save $12.8 million if his release was post-June 1.

He spent the rest of the 2021 season on injured reserve after tearing an ACL. Deshaun Watson was not acquired by the Saints in 2022.

In Weeks 4 and 5, Winston was inactive due to a back fracture and foot injury. His starting job never returned.

After Drew Brees retired before the 2021 season, the offense slipped into the bottom half of the league in points and total yards.

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