Executive Reveals Saints' Kellen Moore's Thoughts On Derek Carr

The New Orleans Saints aren't going to have Derek Carr under center in 2025.

That's pretty obvious as he announced his retirement in a somewhat surprising move. Carr's future has been something that has been talked about all offseason to this point. For a while, it seemed like he would be back. New Orleans altered his deal to make it possible to keep him around in the short term, but he hung up his cleats.

It has been a question throughout the offseason how head coach Kellen Moore potentially felt about inheriting Carr. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and Katherine Terrell shared a column on Friday talking about the Saints' offseason to this point. In the column, they shared a quote from an anonymous executive about Moore's thoughts on Carr.

"An AFC executive believes Moore had every intention of casting his lot with Carr, at least in 2025," Fowler and Terrell said. "'A lot of the guys that interviewed [for the New Orleans head coaching job] thought they would have Derek," the exec said. "That was part of the appeal -- the [Saints] offense and what it was when healthy.'

"Though Moore expressed excitement about working with Carr and assumed he would be in the fold as the team's top starting option for 2025, he took the job understanding that New Orleans likely was headed toward quarterback purgatory. The 2025 season was the last with guaranteed money on Carr's contract, and after two years without a playoff berth, the Saints and Carr appeared poised for a breakup in 2026 barring undeniable chemistry between quarterback and coach."