Saints could get to $14.61 million under the cap without restructuring Derek Carr, after Saints salary cap potentially increases by $5M

Stalwart385 said
Your looking at 12m on the high end. You could squeeze money here and there. With that you must sign a starting caliber G, TE and DE. You also need a viable QB option. Beyond those you still need to look at DT, TE#2, CB and WR. Then you have to consider any scheme change or coaches players. You can't wait till June 1st on all that. By that time the FA market is dried up. You also want to fill those holes before the draft so you don't have to reach.

A trade is more likely to work now, but there are a lot of moving parts so it's hard to give it much consideration. A Carr restructure gives you a ton of room to operate and isn't some damning move like people make it out to be. You will have a ton of money in 2026 and plenty of options to maneuver in 2025. I really don't get why people think they should handcuff themselves other than they think for some reason restructuring Carr damns the team. It doesn't. You don't have to sign another QB this year and the effect next year isn't that significant due to the reduced number of expiring contracts you have to restructure.

Saints have never been big FA shoppers for several major starting level UFAs. There’s usually 1 major signing, then a lot of low cost vets who can start but rotate snaps with existing players. The draft would address starters at Edge, G, DT, and TE like draft projections have been projecting for a while now. Edge could be addressed with the 1st or 2nd. TE in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd. We can typically find a starting G in the 2nd or with one of the 3rds. We have some existing talent at some of those positions that Moore can work with for a season.

The draft has been the Saints’ primary source of reloading with contributors. But according to the Saints’ FA history, I believe there can be multiple significant affordable signings immediately done within 10-14M cap space based on how the FAs’ contracts are structured. More reasonable roster additions can also be made in June through potential cap savings from Carr’s post 6/1 release.

It makes sense to keep Carr so Moore could have more of a competitive team to work with via a QB that he can win games with. I think all options are explorable and not touching Carr’s contract could be one of them depending on Moore’s plans at QB in years 1-2.