BakoSaint

Carr has not been paid for future work so this does not apply to Carr. Carr is owed a lot of future money for past work. The $40 million dead cap associated with cutting Carr is all prorated from his 2023 and 2024 seasons when his base salary was reduced to $1 million per year and the rest was put on the credit card.

What cutting Carr saves us from paying is his 2025 pay. $30 million 2025 base salary never comes due if we cut him. $10 million 2025 roster bonus is 'guaranteed but subject to offset' which means if we cut him, we get the money back as long as he signs elsewhere for at least $10 million. If all he could get was $10 million he would likely pull a Russell Wilson and let us foot the bill, but realistically he can probably get $20-25 million from a team like Pittsburgh or Tennessee, or even us if he was willing to listed to reason, watch the tape again, and take a true pay cut.

What you don't believe in is cutting a player before they are paid for future work, if it would mean having to pay off our debts for their past work, even if that player has been mediocre and is earning more than any other team would pay them. You believe in throwing good money after bad.

AsylumGuido

Guarantees prorated is for money earned for both work already done and for work yet to be completed. And when that individual is mediocre by definition he is also one of the top 16 or so at his profession in the entire world. Would I like someone in the top five instead? Hell yeah! Would I want someone outside of the top 16 or so instead? Hell no. And I can't see why any coach would rather have an inferior player instead either.

BakoSaint

Prorated money is not in an meaningful sense for work yet to be done in any league year beyond the league year it is paid to the player. All of Carr's current prorated money was paid in the 2024 league year and earlier, for work already performed in those league years. Only if we pay him more money are we paying for work in the 2025 league year and beyond. When we convert Carr's $30 million salary for 2025 into a $29 million restructuring bonus and $1 million salary and immediately issue his $29 million check that he immediately deposits in his bank, that $29 million is for work to be performed in the current league year, the same work the salary was for. League accounting rules may allow it to be divided up among the 2025-2029 cap years as long as Carr remains on the roster, but we are not for any practical purpose paying Carr that money for 2029, we are paying it for his services in 2025 and will make another decision in 2026 for his services them, that will in no way be able to effect the check Carr was issued in 2025 that he already deposited.

As for your Mickey Loomis cap philsophy, I get that you cannot understand doing anything but maxing out the credit cards. But it happens many others can see how many you don't spend can be rolled over to future cap years, and then you can spend much bigger when you have a better shot to win it all. Also, QB is inarguably the most important position on the field. A QB that isn't in the top 5 or 10 rarely wins it all and when they do it require incredibly line play the Saints are nowhere near having. So it makes perfect sense for a team that finds an average QB who isn't showing growth that could make him great decides to keep looking elsewhere to find a great QB even if they risk losing more short term.

The very thing you can't imagine, dropping a good but not great QB to search for a better one, is something that the following NFL teams have all done in recent years: Vikings (Cousins), Raiders (Carr), Broncos (Wilson), Giants (Jones), and Jets (Rodgers). In every case the teams turned to backups who were clearly even worse, or rolling the dice in the draft immediately or a year later. Rodgers may be the best QB the Jets have had in decades, and they had the same record as us, but they are moving on because good isn't great. QB is the most important position on the field. Its not where you settle.