Saints head coach Kellen Moore introductory press conference, media updates, February 13, 2025 (31 Viewers)

[StudioSaint]

Most of the cap clearing this year will likely be through restructures, which pushes a lot of today’s cap hits into 2026, wiping out the cushion. Another consideration is we only have 24 players under contract next year, so we need to add 29 players to the roster, which isn’t reflected in the cap numbers. It seems it won’t be as drastic as in years past, but I would expect us to be in another over the cap scenario for 2026.

I think Loomis wants to titrate down instead of going cold turkey like some want.

 

[3ParStillDriver]

Geno Smith is also playing on a $25 million a year contract. That would be a much more reasonable number than Carr's. I don't think Carr is even a story line at that contract. QB contracts have gotten so ridiculously top heavy and we got caught in a very poor position.

No way do I see Moore tying his coaching career to Carr's final years as a starter in the NFL.

I agree. He will however look for a new QB. He'll look at this draft, next year's draft, Rattler, and other teams rosters. In those mists he will choose an answer to the future of QB.

But this year, this year it's painfully obvious Carr will be under Center come Week 1. Carr isn't going to be benched for Rattler. It's simply fantasy to think Rattler can compete with Carr in any way. Rattler just isn't good at all yet. Then you have the salary cap issues. Releasing Carr means we won't have the money nor any chance to re-sign Adebo. So to lose a starting QB who is 10x better then our backup, and our starting CB is essentially saying "Moore is just fine with a losing record this season", which we know no first time coach wants to do.

 

[SigFreudianSlip]

Just watched. If the team wins a game for every time he says “ahh” then we will be the winningest team in the NFL in no time.

Excited to see how he does.

 

[sfidc3]

Biggest take away is his comment about building through the Oline/Dline.

The "no fat guys round one" folks on here might be in for an upsetting pick at pick 9.

He also mentioned "the Oline is a huge important piece to us... and to me the energy of your entire football team"

Prepare yourself for OL at pick 9.

Yup, all true.....But when it comes down to it, we have so many needs that BPA is the way to go at any number of positions OL/DL, WR, RB, S, ......

 

[sfidc3]

Could be. But I think it would be naive of us to not realize that owners do care if fans are angry because if they are, they may buy fewer season tickets and don't go to or spend money at games. And the Dome was getting really empty at that point.

But, sure, it was probably just an added benefit in the form of good PR for a decision that had already been made based on record and the opinion of the players.

I think it's common knowledge (and I know 1st hand as one of her friends is close to my sister) that a lot of her friends are diehard Saints fans.....I don't think it was PR, I think she could feel the vibe change in the Dome and that, combined with the obvious fact that DA had lost the team and hearing from her friends/fans led to her doing the right thing.....

 

[sfidc3]

He said a lot of nice things about Carr. Rightfully so. But he was given a point-blank question and an opportunity to say that Carr would be the Saints starting quarterback and he chose not to answer that. Maybe it's for the reasons you mentioned. Or maybe it's because he's unsure about what he wants to do.

In none of my posts regarding this topic, for what it's worth, have I said that he's gone. I just think it's very clear that they're going to explore all options.

Which is what I would expect, right now, in the honeymoon phase I would expect any new coach to be very positive......

I also expect (or perhaps hope) there to be a TC battle for the starting QB position.....

 

[sfidc3]

Ohh


Ha that’s right I forgot we got him in FA. Are the scenarios similar. In the 26+ games he’s played wouldn’t it make more sense this time for him to waive it, knowing it’s likely any contract he signs will be FAR less than what he’s getting in FA?

Based on his recent body of work there is no team that will value him like we did 2 years ago

I really don't think Carr has much trade value.....I think most of the NFL probably views him as a recently oft-injured median starter that is now 2 years older.....

And, at least initial statements by KM indicate that he will likely be around, we will see if that changes....

 

[St. Widge]

Haha, no he didn’t say that unfortunately. Jono is a jokester.

Great for some laughs, does lots of Saints and Pels related skits. He’s definitely clowning around here.

Yeah. I know Jono tends to make jokes which is why I was suspicious. Normally it's a more obvious joke but I guess I got fooled.

 

[Bayou_City]

I don't think any team has enough depth to handle the volume of injuries the Saints suffered on offense this year and I don't think there's any way that any team could.

The Saints didn't just have some injuries on offense. This is what they had to deal with and a lot of the injuries overlapped for several games:

They lost their starting QB for 7 games.​

​

They had 3 of their starting OL miss a whole bunch of games and had some of their second stringers miss a bunch of games on top of that. Losing the starting center by itself is hard for offenses to overcome. The Saints lost their staring center for several game and then lost their backup center on top of that. I don't think there's a team in the league that has a 3rd center that's not a big drop off from the backup who's a significant drop off from the starter.​

​

Their top 2 WR's missed a lot of games and so did a lot of their 3rd to 5th receivers.​

​

I don't recall what TE injuries were like.​

​

Kamara missed games and played injured most of the season, one injury being a broken hand. Miller missed a bunch of games. I don't remember if Williams or their 4th RB missed games.​

​

All of that could have been better mitigated if Hill hadn't missed games. Conversely, Hill missing games could have been mitigated if not for all of the other injuries on offense.​

​

No team can sustain that many offensive injuries without a serious drop off in talent and production. There were a few games last season in which they were missing starters and 2nd stringers on offense. They had a few games that were almost as bad as the COVID game against Miami. Payton was the coach for that game and even he couldn't get any production out of offense.

I think it's unrealistic to think that any team has enough depth to get through that many injuries on offense without having a huge drop off in production. The Saints lost a lot of starters and then lost a lot of their second string depth on offense.

...and yet surprisingly....Rattler was supposed to ball out.....and some fans think he had a fair chance to showcase his skills....

#themoreyouknow

 

[St. Widge]

I think most everyone is looking too far into it. It's his introductory press conference. He might have an idea of what he wants to accomplish but it might not be guaranteed to happen. I don't see any advantage for the team to say what their plan is now. The cost to talent ratio isn't there for him to say Carr the franchise QB but that doesn't mean he's not a good one that we can make work for another year.

To me the biggest question is do you restructure him and spread the hit over multiple years, let him start this year then cut him or do you not touch it, piss everyone else off by having them take paycuts but not him and do absolutely nothing in FA plus lose your own guys then cut him next year.

I agree people are looking bit far into the comment. But, I do think the fact that Moore did not just say "Yes, Derek Carr is our starting QB" means that there is at least some question in his mind if Carr will be the starting QB. That could be about whether Carr will take a pay cut, could be about whether they could actually cut him and field a competitive team, could be that he's not sure if he can find a better option, etc.

But, I do think it's fair to conclude that Moore and the front office think there is a decision to be made regarding whether Carr is the starting QB next year.

 

[St. Widge]

Moore said he had not had a chance to really speak to Carr yet both times he answered the two questions asking if Carr was the starter. The local media has ignored that in their tweeting and "reporting." The people who insist that Carr has to go are also ignoring it.

I wish the local media would have followed up by asking if Haener or Rattler was his starter. That's the logical follow up, but no one asked it.

The local media knew that Moore wasn't going to say yes or no to that question, no matter which QB they asked about. That's why they only asked about Carr. Get mo' clicks and mo' money with the story "Moore non-committal about Carr starting" than you do with "Moore non-committal on any QB starting."

It's their job to ask if Carr is the starter. We all know it's an issue because Carr made it an issue when he said he would not take a pay cut without even being asked. He knows there is a decision to be made due to his $40 million salary for the year and the $30 million guaranteed money deadline. The front office and Moore know it too. Hell, even we know it and have been talking about it for weeks.

It's an obvious question that needed to be asked. And I don't understand why you would have a problem with them asking if Carr was the starting QB, but are chiding the media for not asking the same question about Rattler and Haener.

 

[StudioSaint]

...and yet surprisingly....Rattler was supposed to ball out.....and some fans think he had a fair chance to showcase his skills....

#themoreyouknow

I didn't expect Rattler to "ball out." He was a backup for a reason.

 

[StudioSaint]

And I don't understand why you would have a problem with them asking if Carr was the starting QB,

I don't have a problem with them asking if Carr is the starter. Of course, they're going to ask that question. In my opinion a good journalist wouldn't have stopped there, which was the point that I made.

If you disagree, you disagree.

 

[Hubig]

Just saying, Moore could have gave Carr the Kamara endorsement flat out. That is why this thing has any legs in the first place. Just because a restructure "makes sense" doesn't mean anything to an organization that continuously does things that don't make sense. Loomis could easily blame injuries and the previous coaching staff not making adjustments in 2nd half of games being the reason Rattler was stymied in games. It's an organization that has done wild can kicking well after the window closed and has done some wild move ups in the draft that have blown up in their faces.

I bet they're doing deep dives into what moving on from Carr looks like and really digging into Rattler's tape. I would not be surprised if it ends up being "we actually have to settle on another year of Carr" if they can't blame injuries and poor coaching that hindered Rattler.

 

[Lustmord]

MSN

5-quarterbacks-that-could-follow-kellen-moore-to-the-saints