BREAKING: New Orleans Saints Shocks NFL Community after Making Surprising Decision With Derek Carr

The New Orleans Saints recently made it sound like Derek Carr was going to be the team’s starting quarterback in 2025.

The team hasn’t shied away from that and he will be. Carr signed a four-year, $150 million deal and has two years left on the deal. There’s been a lot of chatter about how the team was going to handle his contract. He had an expected cap hit over $51 million for the 2025 season and the Saints obviously are in a tough spot cap-wise.

New Orleans reportedly is restructuring his deal, which could drop his cap hit down to just over $20 million, but there is no pay cut, according to ESPN’s Katherine Terrell.

“The Saints are restructuring Derek Carr’s contract to open up $30.9 million in 2025 cap space, according to a source on Saturday,” Terrell said. “The Saints plan to convert Carr’s $30 million base salary and $10 million guaranteed roster bonus to a signing bonus, pushing money to future years and lowering his 2025 cap figure to $20.4 million. Carr’s base salary was set to become fully guaranteed Friday.

“Restructuring Carr’s contract ties the quarterback to the Saints for at least the 2025 season and increases Carr’s 2026 cap figure to $69.2 million in the final season of his contract. That means the Saints will likely face questions about his contract again next year.”

The surprising part isn’t the no pay cut. He signed a contract with the Saints and both sides agreed to it. Plus, he made it clear that he didn’t want a pay cut. It’s good to get his cap figure down from $51 million to $20 million, but a $69 million cap hit for next year is astronomical.

Even if he doesn’t play with the Saints next year, there will be a huge dead cap number if his cap hit is that high. All in all, it’s a complicated situation but at least New Orleans knows who its quarterback is going to be in 2025.

Saints to Cut Ties With Projected $30.2 Million Tight End: ‘Take The Chance’

Should the New Orleans Saints move on from one of their reliable stars on offense?

As free agency approaches, some people feel that New Orleans should let 28-year-old tight end Juwan Johnson walk, while others feel that retaining Johnson is a must. Johnson has tallied 146 receptions, 1,622 receiving yards, and 18 receiving touchdowns since being signed by the Saints in 2020, production that would surely be missed were he to join another team.

At the same time, the Saints are dealing with a messy cap situation, and moving on from Johnson could help ease their fiscal woes, a point made by Saints Wire’s Dylan Sanders on Thursday. Sanders acknowledged that Johnson is a good player but wondered whether the Saints can go cheaper at the tight end position in 2025.

“The New Orleans Saints signed Juwan Johnson as an undrafted free agent out of Penn State back in 2020 and began the experiment of turning him into a star tight end,” Sanders wrote.

“Now he is headed towards free agency and the Saints must decide if they want to bring him back.”

“When Johnson is on, he is a receiving threat and fun player to watch. The problem with him has mostly been consistency. He will go a couple of weeks in a row being quiet and then can put together a great showing.”

Sanders then referenced how Spotrac estimates that Johnson will demand a three-year, $30.2 million deal in free agency, a contract that Sanders believes the Saints should avoid paying.

“This projected deal would be a solid value for the player that Johnson is, but that might not be the player that the Saints need at tight end,” Sanders wrote.

“Foster Moreau was able to give them 32 catches for 413 yards and five touchdowns last year and he is making just over $4 million a season.”

“It feels as though Johnson has reached his ceiling in New Orleans and both parties could benefit from going their separate ways. Bringing him back wouldn’t be a terrible move, but they could also take the chance in the draft at finding a cheaper option that could deliver similar production.”

The Saints are certainly eyeing tight ends in the draft, having been linked repeatedly to Penn State stud Tyler Warren at the No. 9 overall pick.

Whether or not New Orleans lands Warren, it might be prudent to move on from Johnson given the franchise’s current cap situation.

The Saints need to be extremely frugal across the board until their cap health markedly improves, and it might take another 12 to 24 months for that to come to fruition.

UNBELIEVABLE: Saints fans in Shock as GM Mickey Loomis Solidify Derek Carr As Starting Quarterback With Contract Conversion up to $40million in Earnings

The New Orleans Saints have made it clear that they want quarterback Derek Carr as their quarterback for the 2025 season. On Saturday, the Saints converted most of Carr’s salary into a signing bonus, setting Carr up to make his full $40 million salary and freeing up cap space for the organization, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported.

The Saints indicated at the NFL combine that they planned to stick with Carr as their quarterback, and now have backed up that decision by converting his contract.

New Orleans could have looked in another direction at quarterback after Carr threw for 2,145 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions while missing seven games during the 2024 season. The Saints brought in a new head coach in Kellen Moore, but plan to keep Carr as quarterback as he enters the third year of the four-year, $150 million deal he signed in March 2023.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, there were other teams with their eye on this situation and could have potentially been interested in Carr if New Orleans didn’t bring him back.

Through two seasons with the Saints, Carr has put up a 14-13 record, including a 9-8 record for the team in 2024.

This move will reportedly save the Saints $30 million in cap space, per Nick Underhill of New Orleans Football Network. This is crucial for a Saints team that has built up the worst cap situation in the NFL, and had about -$44.9 million in cap space before making this move, per Over the Cap. The negative is that this restructure is set to make Carr’s cap hit $69 million in 2026, ESPN’s Katherine Terrell reports, but the Saints can at least ease their cap situation this season and address that hit next year.

CONFIRMED: Saints tender free agent linebacker Nephi Sewell to Bring him back for the 2025 season

The New Orleans Saints have made one of their first official free agency moves of the offseason, as they have tendered exclusive rights free agent Nephi Sewell, which was initially reported by John Hendrix of Athlon Sports. With the Saints heading into the offseason with 19 free agents, one has been cleared up prior to free agency, with Sewell being the only player on the team with the ERFA designation.

This designation is specifically for players with two or fewer seasons under their belt, however, a “season” by definition of the league factors in a few things. The player has to be on the active roster for six or more games and must report to their respective team’s training camp at the mandatory date each year, for the season to be official. The reason Sewell has not cleared two seasons yet, even after having been through three technically, is one of his years did not meet the threshold for one of those standards, presumably his rookie season as he only was active for four games.

So, the Saints will be able to retain the young linebacker at a relatively low valuation, as they did with wide receiver Rashid Shaheed in 2024 before signing him to an extension in July. The team typically tries to keep players around for a few years after drafting them or signing them as a UDFA just to see what they can bring to the table, and with the Saints having a new coaching staff, it is a testament to his skillset that he is being retained regardless.

CONGRATULATIONS: Former Saints offensive tackle Terron Armstead inducted into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame

Former New Orleans Saints offensive tackle Terron Armstead has been inducted into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame. Armstead attended the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, playing for the UAPB Golden Lions football team from 2009 to 2012. He was named first-team All-SWAC from 2010-2012 and played in the 2013 Senior Bowl in Mobile, AL.

Congratulations to Terron Armstead on being inducted into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame! Armstead played in the 2013 Senior Bowl. Terron spent 9 years with the New Orleans Saints and is currently the starting left tackle for the Miami Dolphins!! Congratulations, @T_Armstead72!! pic.twitter.com/6itG9VSzIK

— Reese’s Senior Bowl (@seniorbowl) March 6, 2025

Armstead was drafted by the Saints in the third round (75th overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played nine seasons in New Orleans before signing with the Miami Dolphins in March 2022. Armstead was named Second-Team All-Pro in 2018 and has been selected to the Pro-Bowl five times (2018-2020, 2022 and 2023)