Saints head coach Kellen Moore introductory press conference, media updates, February 13, 2025

ELLIASJWILLIAMS said
I’m rewatching/listening to his press conference and I’m now starting to see why Trip said he didn’t commit to Carr.

Trip said “following up on Derek, do you view that as you guys have a decision to make at Quarterback or you view it as Derek Carr is the quarterback”

The key word was “The” Quarterback and Kellen’s response was “I view it as Derek Carr is “a” tremendous starting QB in this league, we’re fortunate to have him, and we’re excited to go through this process”

I’m going to echo my last post, I think they approach Carr on a paycut (I don’t think they have already, I think Derek volunteered that he wouldn’t do it publicly) and if he balks, you find a trade partner for a “tremendous starting QB in this league”.

This being a weak QB draft works in our favor. Part of me hopes he takes the paycut and is available as an extra resource for Rattler, the other part says get some/ a pick for him and continue building a middle class for this roster.

I hope it’s the former. He’s more valuable on the team.

I honestly don't see why Carr would take a pay cut or agree to waive his no trade clause. The original terms of his contract were fair for him. It was the way that the Saints manage the cap and that we were always going to be forced to kick his base salary in the 2nd year to a bonus that got us in trouble. It was a gamble for us (Dennis Allen) that we lost, but it was a very easy way to get guaranteed cash for him. Right now he's banking on the team being so tight on cash that they'll be forced to guarantee his $30m base rather than do a hard reset of the cap. He may be right about that, but I hope Loomis and Moore take the hit instead of giving in to restructuring him. That is literally the only leverage the team has at this point.