Danno

You can't rebuild when you keep missing on draft picks. Its what forces us to add free-agents instead of rebuilding through the draft. It also drives up our salary cap number.

We have too many players on 2nd and 3rd contracts. We need to start hitting on the cheaper rookies. Only then can we rebuild with cheaper younger players.

Mr.Riaton

And some of the players we hit on we let go because of I assume lack of quality coaching to develop them or bad scheme fit, or possibly both, just to watch them go on to be great players for other teams.

I’m hoping for better draft results with this coaching staff we have in place. And please pick a scheme and draft players to fit it.

jnormand

I just think the team needs a reset. A reset on roster. A reset on cap. I’m all for them going in and trying to kick some ass. But eventually teams need to rebuild and reload.

keithday123

I didn’t say Carr wasn’t best option but it sure seems odd that once the restructuring of his contract was greenlit by Mickey that it should’ve given some assurance to Carr to come out and say something or show a little excitement about the season, but at this point crickets. Maybe the trade is still being shopped and Nola has decided to go QB in first round or maybe some other move. Either way sure seems quiet on the Carr front

iceshack149

I actually think that there's a chance a Carr trade is in the works. I know the math isn't favorable but Carr doesn't appear to want to be in New Orleans and the organization knows what most of the fans think of Carr.

Todd McShay suggests Derek Carr may still move on from the Saints in 2025
john sigler, saints wire
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/tod...232657090.html

AsylumGuido

Sure, McShay suggested it, but Sigler shot him down saying he was ignoring the cap implications. Look at paragraphs four and five of his article.

AsylumGuido

Saints appear to be making a move for Cooper Kupp.

AsylumGuido

Cooper's grandfather was a New Orleans Saints left guard 1967-1975.

BakoSaint

Sigler is wrong though, unless he is ignoring strategy and just stating that a high dead cap number in one particular year would look bad from a PR standpoint. Derek Carr's current cap charge for 2026 is $69 million, made up of $50 million base salary and $19 million 'zombie money' from prorated bonuses Carr was given in past restructures for past years play, its not dead cap exactly but really its the same because its for a player who is no longer on the roster unless you own a time machine, a younger version of a current player. The dead cap to cut or trade Carr is $60 million but that $60 million includes merely renaming that $19 million of 'zombie money' to 'dead money' that is on our cap in 2026 no matter what, unless Carr quits and we claw it back in arbitration. Then $40.5 million of additional prorated bonus 'zombie money' would be accelerated as dead cap to 2026. But Carr's $50 million base salary would be removed from the 2026 cap. So cutting or trading Carr would actually lower the Saints 2026 cap obligations by $9.5 million immediately, in time to help us get under the 2026 cap by the start of the league year.

While designating Carr a post-June-1 cut or actually waiting until post-June-1 to cut him in 2026 (a better option than the prior because the contract has no guarantee triggers inbetween so there is nothing to gain with wasting the tag) may seem like a better option to split up the dead cap, $19 million to 2026 and $40.5 million to 2027, neither post-June-1 option offers that immediate $9.5 million cap relief in March to help us get under the 2026 cap. Post June 1 tags have no cap effect until June 1, so that $50 million base salary would stay on the books. Ultimately the team may prefer $9.5 million immediate savings to get under the cap and sign free agents as opposed to $40.5 million savings when free agency is over and the deadline to get under the cap has passed.

So cutting or trading Carr prior to June 1 is completely viable. I assume Carr will be our Week 1 starting QB if he avoids injury in preseason because otherwise it would make even less sense to be spending the money we are, but if things go south, the right trade offer is there, or Carr as a decoy helps the right QB fall to us in the draft, we do have options.

AsylumGuido

Sure it's crickets. All the hype is currently on players getting signed, being traded, being cut, being extended, or retiring. Carr's status is status quo. As far as he and the team are concerned nothing has changed other than completely expected accounting.