Could Derek Carr be a post-June 1 cut? (2 Viewers)

[MG3n2K5]

Good article, but the idea that Carr is going to agree to losing 28.5M to reduce his salary and be post-June 1 cut is ludicrous. He has zero incentive to take that deal. He wants to play football and no team (except us) will pay him 40M to play next year.

I actually covered this possibility. If there is another team willing to pay him 25-30M behind the scenes (like I said unlikely) then he could reduce his salary to something like a $5M guaranteed contract so the Saints can release him as a June 1st cut.

But yeah, without another team in the background being interested that's a no go and I can't see another team agreeing to that before free agency starts. There might be some interest later after teams have struck out in free agency with Darnold or another QB but Carr will already be restructured by then.

 

[saint_drago]

We honestly need to do nothing, restructure nothing, be the worst team in the NFL next year, let these bad salaries clear

This. Stop the madness. Stop jumping through hoops unless you're forced to in order to reach cap compliance. Take it on the chin until you right the ship. For the life of me I can't understand why they choose take make it so difficult. And stop with the, "Loomis knows what he's doing, it's all part of the plan. He's just ahead of the curve using tomorrow's money today. It's genius when you think about it." I'm not trying to hear that noise anymore.

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

Carr will get restructured to save and look at a 2026 cut. I believe you can only do 2 post June 1 cuts. I look for Ram to redo his contract to a base pay and then be a June 1 cut. Then you can do 1 more.

You can do as many post June 1st cuts as you want. However you can only do two cuts prior to June 1st while having them count as post-June 1st.

If we cut Carr, his dead cap is $50 m. If we designate. him post June 1st, then its spread out over two years, we would save $25m.

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

How do retirements factor into the cap?

Pretty much the same as a cut, but they lose any guaranteed money that hasn't already been paid out, unless its injury related, in which case there is usually some mutual injury settlement worked out. Also I think if there is a roster bonus after the league year starts but before the season starts, you have to intend to play that year. Otherwise you would see guys still on contracts retire after they get their roster bonuses.

 

[Steve in Colorado]

I'm not up on cap maneuvering like some of you guys, but I agree with Mike Triplett that there's no way the Saints should pay Carr $40 million next year.

 

[MG3n2K5]

You can do as many post June 1st cuts as you want. However you can only do two cuts prior to June 1st while having them count as post-June 1st.

If we cut Carr, his dead cap is $50 m. If we designate. him post June 1st, then its spread out over two years, we would save $25m.

If you designate him, his cap number will still be $50M until June 1st then you'd get $30M knocked off. Problem is that you have to be cap compliant in early March.

 

[B4YOU]

I actually covered this possibility. If there is another team willing to pay him 25-30M behind the scenes (like I said unlikely) then he could reduce his salary to something like a $5M guaranteed contract so the Saints can release him as a June 1st cut.

But yeah, without another team in the background being interested that's a no go and I can't see another team agreeing to that before free agency starts. There might be some interest later after teams have struck out in free agency with Darnold or another QB but Carr will already be restructured by then.

As @Rouxble pointed out, Carr was contract inflexible with LVR. Zero reason to think he helps us.

Carr has a “no trade” clause. The only route would be Carr agreeing to salary being converted to option/roster bonuses and us asking Tenn/NYG if they want a mentor for the rookie QB they draft for a 7th and Carr agreeing to that all before the 3rd day of the league year. That still leaves us 40M and 11M dead cap over the next two years. We can’t cap manage a 40M dead cap hit. Finding great value at QB is a route to winning. Carr isn’t great value. Loomis overpaid with the 20M in roster bonuses and “no trade clause”.

 

[MG3n2K5]

As @Rouxble pointed out, Carr was contract inflexible with LVR. Zero reason to think he helps us.

Carr has a “no trade” clause. The only route would be Carr agreeing to salary being converted to option/roster bonuses and us asking Tenn/NYG if they want a mentor for the rookie QB they draft for a 7th and Carr agreeing to that all before the 3rd day of the league year. That still leaves us 40M and 11M dead cap over the next two years. We can’t cap manage a 40M dead cap hit. Finding great value at QB is a route to winning. Carr isn’t great value. Loomis overpaid with the 20M in roster bonuses and “no trade clause”.

The theory is he would do it to help himself get in a better situation, not help the Saints out. But like I said they'd need to be another team out there willing to cover his base salary (BEFORE FREE AGENCY START), very unlikely.

I don't see any situation where Carr helps facilitate a trade for even a 7th round pick.

 

[dvdman]

If you still plan on winning next season then no. It would be a huge mistake if it happen and but won’t happen.
Unless you have the next Patrick
Mahomes in the draft and you have the number pick.

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

The theory is he would do it to help himself get in a better situation, not help the Saints out. But like I said they'd need to be another team out there willing to cover his base salary (BEFORE FREE AGENCY START), very unlikely.

I don't see any situation where Carr helps facilitate a trade for even a 7th round pick.

He might not like the next Saints HC.

I don't think he would do it to be a backup, but there are a few teams where he might start that need a QB, but don't have an replacement and might not like this years draft class and/or not be in a position to draft one. Such as the Colts.

 

[Cajun Mike]

No more restructuring , no more kicking the can down the road. If that means we suck for a couple of years. Then so be it.

 

[B4YOU]

The theory is he would do it to help himself get in a better situation, not help the Saints out. But like I said they'd need to be another team out there willing to cover his base salary (BEFORE FREE AGENCY START), very unlikely.

I don't see any situation where Carr helps facilitate a trade for even a 7th round pick.

There is no better situation than NoLa for Carr. There is no team that would pay him 40M while offering a better chance to win. No other team is so cap strapped they can't just release him. NYG and Tenn are drafting QBs. Jets will either roll Rodgers or release prior to his 2025 35M option due while eating 49M in dead cap. Cleveland is stuck with Watson. Raiders already dumped him. I expect both the Raiders and Jets to try to trade for McCarthy and the other will scrap the barrel. We can't post-June 1 release him because we have to restructure him to get cap compliant and he has zero incentive to help. His entire 40M guarantees on the 3rd day of the year.

We will roll 20M+ of Carr's salary to next year. In 2026 we will post-June 1 release or extend. I think ML's plan is bluff a release in 2026 while offering a 30M 1/yr extension (10M pay cut) while hoping the cap outgrows our mismanagement.

 

[TruSaint]

We have no choice but to restructure some ppl Just to get cap compliant.

Valid point. God Loomis is a terrible GM. He's so bad we can't even rebuild properly.

 

[Patman255]

OTC's ideal plan involves moving some money around and cutting/retiring Mathieu, Jordan, Davis, and Ram while trying to see what can be done with Carr's contract. In a goldilocks situation he restructures in a way that gets him paid now but cut before the start of the 2025 season. This is probably a pipe dream and more likely we end up either hard ball cutting him if it's possible to get under the cap next year but more likely he's with us one more season and cut in 2026.

But if we could really get these 5 players and their salaries off the roster and stomach what will likely be incredibly bad 2025 and 2026 seasons, I think we'd be in a a position by 2027 to have the ghost of our bad contracts behind us and then we see if there's a nucleus of young talent from these next couple drafts to be able to get back to being competitive by 2027.

 

[Saintcd]

OTC's ideal plan involves moving some money around and cutting/retiring Mathieu, Jordan, Davis, and Ram while trying to see what can be done with Carr's contract. In a goldilocks situation he restructures in a way that gets him paid now but cut before the start of the 2025 season. This is probably a pipe dream and more likely we end up either hard ball cutting him if it's possible to get under the cap next year but more likely he's with us one more season and cut in 2026.

But if we could really get these 5 players and their salaries off the roster and stomach what will likely be incredibly bad 2025 and 2026 seasons, I think we'd be in a a position by 2027 to have the ghost of our bad contracts behind us and then we see if there's a nucleus of young talent from these next couple drafts to be able to get back to being competitive by 2027.

The players you mentioned should be cut no matter what at this point. They have all lost a step, got older and one is out the door into retirement with his knee. I’d rather see some young hungry rookie or udfa step in. Win-win, find a gem or get a better draft pick.