Saints could get to $14.61 million under the cap without restructuring Derek Carr, after Saints salary cap potentially increases by $5M
My counterpoints to this would be that we don't need to be spenders this offseason, and it can be argued that playing Carr for a season would get in the way of finding your QB to build around.
Playing him would win us too many games, but wouldn't lose enough to land a top pick, and we wouldn't learn anything about Rattler with the lights on.
If you cut Carr and Rattler plays awesome, that when we would want to be spenders, the next offseason. Because hes 24(?), clearly your guy, and on a rookie contract. If you cut Carr and Rattler shows he just doesn't have it, then you're likely staring at a top 3 pick and you'll have cap freedom when you need it.
I think “5-12” with one of the most injured rosters of all-time coached by one of the worst coaches of all-time has jaded fans and their outlooks.
I think throwing away or year or not going all out for a year at this stage is “Easy to say as a fan” talk. The people in that building just aren’t built that way, both from a competitive standpoint and from a business standpoint.
I think last year’s roster, even with the incompetent coaching, is a couple of fortunate ball bounces from being a 10-7 type division winner.
Add a good coaching staff headed by a SB winner, along with a handful of key free agent tweaks and a strong draft, and skies the limit.
Sure, will we be competing for a 15-2 year with homefield advantage? Probably not, but not being within reach of that specific threshold barring luck isn’t a damning thing that means it’s not worth going for the division win and a berth into the playoff dance. Virtually every team is always a bit of luck and health from a 10-7/11-6 threshold, and it’s worth going for.
There’s also the early culture-building aspect to consider.
Lastly, if Rattler is the guy, it’ll be shown in the off-season. A baller at that position reveals himself. You don’t have to rid yourself of Carr for that to happen. If Carr somehow prevents that, then that tells me Rattler wasn’t the guy to begin with.