It's time for the Saints and Derek Carr to go their separate ways

The Saints never really wanted to tear it down and start over.

And that might have been the way. The problem is, their plan for 2025 was built around a guy who doesn’t want to be here.

As you’ve probably know by now, since it was the worst-kept secret in the NFL, Derek Carr didn’t want to stick around this offseason. He wanted to be traded or released, and he was willing to lower his salary and waive his no-trade clause to make it happen. And the quarterback was upset when those things didn’t work out – even though the Saints paid him his full $40M in salary and bonuses.

So, fix it. Don't let it hang over the season. Both sides should move on and start over. It's time. Lift the cloud and clear the uncertainty and start anew. Don't let this be a thing if it's possible to make it not a thing, which it might not be without taking a massive financial hit. But there's always a compromise if both sides want one, and if there's a way to meet in the middle and undo this agreement (there might not be) or find a trade, then everyone should be open to those possibilities. It's for the best.

It's unfortunate that things have gotten a little weird with news of Carr maybe needing shoulder surgery after his desire to get released was denied. Now, it’s certainly possible that Derek Carr has a really bad shoulder injury. I don’t want to suggest he doesn’t have an injury or downplay it, even if this is all very weird and hard to understand how everything played out. Sometimes coincidences are just coincidences, even if some conspiracies are disguised as coincidences. This one might just be a regular old coincidence. At some point, someone is going to do an interview and make this all make sense.

But perhaps there is no explanation needed. Maybe it’s just what we all saw. We watched Carr injure his AC joint in 2023. We saw him dive into a serious injury last year. We saw him take a lot of hits and play through some of them. So, he might be hurt. He might have been hurt for a while and went outside a couple of weeks ago, tried to throw and ouch! … and yet, it seems like every person in the league is arching their eyebrow at this situation. And how can you not wonder at least a little bit? This whole situation looks wild — even if it isn’t.

So, if Derek Carr is hurt and if he has to get surgery, he should just go get the surgery and the Saints should operate as if they’re moving on and go do that, sort of like they did with Ryan Ramczyk last season. Draft or sign a replacement. Release Carr next offseason. Easy. Clean. Done.

If Derek Carr is hurt in the way where he could stomach the pain and be healthy enough to play through the injury in different uniform colors, then the Saints should work with him on changing his colors and changing everyone’s reality. No point in forcing someone to be here if they want out this bad.

And even if Carr is able to rehab his injury and get better and decides he can do one more season here, it still feels like this situation should just be over. It just feels like it’s time. The situation has become tense, if not contentious, and it feels like the cost is higher than whatever it’s worth to stick together for one more year.

It’s just time to move on. It’s the best thing. For the Saints. For Carr. For the people who buy tickets to the games. This situation has run its course and everyone should want the same thing. Find some type of agreement that lets everyone walk away and just do that ... unless Carr is really hurt and can't avoid surgery. Then this is all just bad luck and a massive coincidence.

I’m not sure what Carr’s plans were this offseason when he wanted out or what they would be now. Maybe he would have tried to go with Klint Kubiak to Seattle. But with that being gone, maybe he now sees a place in Pittsburgh or New York or Cleveland. There aren’t a ton of open spots now, but that’d all be up to him. He must have had a plan when he was trying to get out, and one of those options must still exist. Doesn’t really matter if you’re the Saints. Just say good luck and let him go find out. I know I’d be keeping tabs. That’d create an incredibly interesting subplot to the season.

I do have to say though, it’s crazy to me that this is where things are at. I legitimately thought the contract situation would play out with Carr being willing to surrender a few bucks with a mutual understanding that the team would make some moves to improve the offense. Seemed like the easiest win-win. Barring that, I figured that they’d pay him the full $40 million to play … and that would be the end of the story until Week 1. And yet, the story seems like it’s just getting started.

But a this point, it doesn’t even really matter what has brought things to this point — whether it’s an injury or just a desire to leave town.

Carr’s injury news hit pause on all forward momentum, which gave us all a moment to look into the future, one without the starting quarterback on the roster, and, man, it kind of felt right. So, let’s say that there’s a reality where Carr rehabs and gets healthy and is still ready to play … you can’t tell me it doesn’t feel like time to move on — and I’m a guy that cares about every dollar and how every little thing impacts the cap. At this point, the cost of moving forward on this new path feels like one worth absorbing.

If you’re with me on this point of view, there is one truth to accept. Placing all personal feelings about the player aside, there is no doubt the team will most likely be way worse without Carr on the roster. We’re talking like possibly the worst team in the league. They couldn’t win a game without him last year, and probably won’t win many without him this year. And yet, which of these options would you choose for the upcoming season:

Win nine games with Carr and lose the first playoff game

Draft a rookie and see how he performs

Roll with Rattler and see how it goes

Stop. I know what you’re about to say. I also doubt this is a playoff team with Carr, but I wanted to give the best possible realistic option to keep things fair. I’ll never turn my nose up at winning, so adding the playoffs makes this a tougher choice — at least a little bit tougher. But I’m still taking B or C every single time. This doesn’t feel like a team that can win the Super Bowl before this quarterback leaves, and if he wants out now, he’ll want out a year from now. So, what’s the point of chasing anything with him? Let him go.

And if you want me to pick one of the other two options, I’m skipping this draft class and aiming to either strike gold with Rattler or bottom out for next year’s draft, even though I don’t know what to make of that group. We don’t know what Arch Manning is or if he’ll declare. Drew Allar has more to prove. LaNorris Sellers and Garrett Nussmeier are both exciting players, too, but we again need to see more. But if I’m making a gamble, I want to try to roll the dice with a higher pick. Maybe that’s crazy. Maybe it’s not. But I just think it’s time for the Saints to walk a different path.

It’s time to embrace the rebuild. Maybe you didn’t want to do it this way, but it’s here, and the Saints should want it now. They should be excited about it. Play the quarterback who is in the building for organized team activities, that showed up excited to work with this new staff and start a new chapter. Go draft one, if you want, and bring him up in that culture, too. But being in limbo with a visible ceiling on what the team can be? That makes no sense.

It’s just time. Not wanting to let Saints football ever get too low is a commendable goal. No one really ever wants it to be bad, even for a little bit, but I think everyone is ready to reset. The team won five games last year on accident. Be OK with winning five this year on purpose and finding a brand new path forward, one without any clouds in the sky.