Another season, another NFL playoff missed by the New Orleans Saints, whose 5-12 record was not even remotely good enough to get them a spot in the upcoming postseason. There are plenty of questions for New Orleans going forward, including the future of the quarterback with the team.
For Carr, though, he seems to believe that he will continue with his role with the team in 2025, per Saints beat reporter Mike Mike Triplett.
“In Derek Carr’s first comments since his week 14 injury, he tells NewOrleans.Football he is ‘very confident’ he’ll be back with Saints and ‘it sucks’ he couldn’t get back in time to finish this season,” Triplett posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
The Saints looked as though they were going places in the 2024 season when they won their first two games of the season. But it all went downhill from there for New Orleans, which went on a seven-game losing skid from Week 3 to Week 9, resulting in the midseason firing of head coach Dennis Allen.
The Saints showed signs of life after Allen’s dismissal, with back-to-back wins over the Atlanta Falcons and the Cleveland Browns before a bye in Week 12 but an injury suffered by Carr in Week 14 against the New York Giants on the road hurt New Orleans’ playoff chances. With Carr sidelined by a hand injury, New Orleans was forced to rely on Spencer Rattler as their temporary QB1 in the team’s last four games of the season, during which the Saints went winless, concluding in a 27-19 road loss at the hands of Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
What will the Saints do with Derek Carr?
Even when he was healthy, Carr didn’t exactly impress everyone with his play. In 10 games in 2024, the former Fresno State Bulldogs star passed for 2,145 yards and 15 touchdowns against five interceptions. He had great moments but his massive contract could play a huge factor in New Orleans’ decision on his future with the franchise. The Saints can designate the 33-year-old Carr as a post-June 1 cut casualty for $30 million in savings. If they release him before June 1, they will have a dead cap of $50.132 million in 2025 and just $1.326 in savings.
