It’s a Raiders Reunion in New Orleans With Derek Carr Reportedly Heading to the Saints
The quarterback shakeup is underway.
Long before we get to the NFL Draft, what happens in free agency (and trade market) will ultimately dictate where this annual game of musical chairs will go. And the first domino is dropping just one week before the “legal tampering” period gets underway.
Derek Carr is going to the New Orleans Saints in a move that gets the ball rolling for offseason quarterback movement:
The Carr move from the Raiders to the Saints is a fun one. After all, the Raiders were trying to swing a trade with the Saints before cutting Carr. They even let Carr take a trip to New Orleans to visit the facility and meet with the team. But when the two sides couldn’t hash out a deal, Carr was sent packing with his release. And in the end, Carr lands in New Orleans. It’s almost as if it was meant to be all along. Especially since he’ll reunite with Dennis Allen, the Saints head coach who was with Carr in 2014.
Carr, 31, is a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback who is coming off a season in which he threw for 3,522 yards and 24 touchdowns. But his efficiency numbers took a tumble, his interception rate ticked up, and led Vegas to a disappointing 6-9 record as a starter in 2022. And thus, the new Raiders regime said goodbye to a QB who had been with them since the team was in Oakland. But more than that, Carr’s departure from Vegas and arrival in New Orleans puts a whole bunch of QB-needy teams in the spotlight.
For instance, what are the Jets going to do after letting Carr slide to the Saints? Is New York all-in on Aaron Rodgers? That feels like an easy way to end up feeling massive disappointment. What about the Panthers? That team reportedly had eyes for Carr, too. I guess they’re all in on the draft (unless they want to sniff around free agency). And then there are the Raiders, who probably need to move up the draft board to get a hot-shot prospect. Or they need to leverage their top-10 pick in to take a big swing in a trade. So many dominos are still left to fall. But Carr’s was the first. Let the games begin.
UPDATE (9:35 AM CT) — I don’t know how they’re going to fit this under the cap, but the Saints are wizards in this regard:
