The New Orleans Saints brass may have given Derek Carr a vote of confidence, but there’s no guarantee the front office can make his contract work.
Heading into another offseason in which New Orleans must deal with salary-cap issues, Carr’s contract includes $30 million non-guaranteed. Releasing him wouldn’t solve all the cap issues, but it would go a long way.
When predicting every NFL’s starting quarterback for the upcoming season, Seth Walder of ESPN had the Saints cutting ties with the four-time Pro Bowler in order to sign Pittsburgh Steelers pending free agent Justin Fields.
“Assuming New Orleans can avoid paying that $30 million to Carr, it ought to embrace a full rebuild — which means playing players with future upside. Fields and a rookie could make sense in that context,” Walder wrote. “There’s still a possibility Fields can kick his level of play up a notch, and, if not, a midround rookie can get some run. My only hesitation is that even Fields might be too expensive for the Saints, given how rough their salary cap situation is.”
After the NFL officially set the 2025 salary cap at $279.2 million, the Saints are estimated to be roughly $47 million over the cap, according to Spotrac.
Despite his tenure with the Chicago Bears not working out, Fields gained some positive momentum with the Steelers in 2024. Filling in for starter Russell Wilson to begin the season, he completed 65.8% of his passes for 1,106 yards, five touchdowns one interception and a 110.6 passer rating in six starts.
He also added 62 rushing attempts for 289 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns, proving he can be the type of dual-threat quarterback that new head coach Kellen Moore just had success with.
Moving away from Carr won’t solve all the Saints’ issues, but it could help them significantly with the salary cap under this new regime.
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