If Carr's ceiling for us is bridge QB (and that's how it's looking so far) then he shouldn't have been given high-mid starter money. That's poor value. Much as I hate to say it, the Bucs have managed to field a comparatively competitive team with a far cheaper "bridge" QB who's outplaying our "franchise" guy by a fair margin, and as a result they'll have a nice clean cap going into next year. Carr's contract by comparison locks us into a holding pattern of offensive mediocrity through next year minimum, delays some much-needed cap purging, and limits our options for having a stronger roster in place for whatever young QB we draft to take the reins.
The deal made sense in January assuming you trusted this regime's ability to evaluate QBs. Considering this is the same regime whose Plan A was to give the farm for Deshaun Watson, I'd say that trust would be misplaced. And Carr's deal sure as hell doesn't make sense for the future, for the reasons stated above. His production thus far could've been had for a fraction of the cost. But here we are.