Ok I’ll probably get trashed for this but…. (2 Viewers)

[baarbogast]

I just restructured 5 players , Carr, Ruiz, Hill , McCoy and Werner and was almost 3 mil under the cap

I thought the goal is to get rid of Carr.

 

[DSnfla]

I thought the goal is to get rid of Carr.

It's just not the smart thing to do, we'd have to basically gut the team and take the re-load yrs longer

 

[St. Geezy]

It's just not the smart thing to do, we'd have to basically gut the team and take the re-load yrs longer

Agreed. I think many have become enamored with the idea of a youth movement and tearing everything apart and conceding to being non-competitive when there has been no direct indication that this is the action the team intends to take.

For better or for worse, I fully expect the Saints to do what they think is best to win in 2025, and that includes keeping Carr on the roster.

I could see them bringing in some legitimate veteran or early round rookie completion though, as they plan ahead. But not keeping Carr this year comes at too great of a cost. And contrary to popular belief, the guy really ain’t as bad as he’s made out to be here. He’s worth keeping around as a bridge quarterback IMO.

 

[Elvis]

It's just not the smart thing to do, we'd have to basically gut the team and take the re-load yrs longer

Restructuring Carr will also "take the re-load yrs longer" so it doesn't technically matter who you restructure to get under the cap in March.

I see guys like Demario and Tyrann to be more valuable on the field in 2025 and better team guys than Carr. While having lost a step due to age, their leadership is unquestionable. Both have also been representing the team all week during the Super Bowl and Carr has been the most prominent Saints player, current of former, that has been missing entirely. For that matter even Rattler has been doing the rounds on media row this week instead. Think what you want about that. Carr isn't going to be the long term QB, so it's time to move on.

Restructuring guys like Demario, Tyrann, AK, McCoy, Ruiz, and Granderson also makes more sense because they all have quite a bit of guaranteed salary in 2025 anyway. So moving their salaries to bonuses, while not ideal, makes more sense than moving Carr's who has far less overall guaranteed money remaining. Carr's cap hit would mostly be from previously paid bonuses and whatever he makes in 2025 from a new team, up to $10 million, would come back to us because of offsets in his contract.

While I love Cam Jordan and Taysom Hill, I think they'll either need to take a pay cuts or be released. Cam would probably be a June 1 cut. Taysom might be more complicated with his injury, not sure what his injury guarantees are.

Guys like Rashid Shaheed and Alontae Taylor should be extended to free up a little cap money in 2025. We'd probably also need to resign one of Chase Young or Juwan Johnson to avoid their dead cap hits. These may be the first things to happen as we have exclusive negotiation rights with them and could set the whole thing in motion. Neither Young or Johnson are my favorite players, but I can see why a new coach might want to keep either.

Gutting the bottom of the roster until June 1 in a year when you're transitioning from one staff to another isn't the worst thing for the team either. A lot of those guys are fringe NFL players that mostly only play special teams. A loss, but not a tragic loss. Restructure or extend JT Gray, but most of the the other guys are "just a guy" type players.

Free agency should be quiet this year. Assuming a June 1 cut for Carr, when June 1st rolls around the team will have $30+ million to fill out the bottom of the roster with guys we've "agreed to terms" with and the rookies. And we'll have an additional $30 million in 2026 as well because we'll have reduced Carr's 2026 cap hit from $61 million to around $28 million in dead money.

The point is, there are a lot of things at play here. If Kellen Moore wants to tie himself to Carr, then obviously things would look much different. But I think he's smarter than that. He can see that Carr hasn't been good enough to prevent every coach he's ever played for in the NFL from being fired, one of them twice and many of them with more skins on the wall than Moore.

 

[soggymoss84]

It was the only way to get cap compliant. I’m not thrilled with it either.

It’s not.

Release Carr with June 1 designation.

Restructure Cam, Taysom, DD, Tyrann, Ruiz, McCoy

Re-sign Chase to push back his 9 million void, this would save around 4 million in space

Extend Foster to lower his cap hit.

Those moves should have you cap compliant, in June sign draft picks with the 30 milllion gained from Carr cut