“it’s over for him at Saint” Derek Carr will be cut by the Saints this offseason as HC Kellen Moore gives greenlight for Star QB as Replacement

The 2025 offseason has the potential to be a chaotic one for the entire NFL. There will likely be a ton of quarterback movement, wide receiver movement, an unpredictable draft, and plenty of other moves that will reshape the league as fans know it.

The New Orleans Saints could have a hand in all of the chaos that’s expected to take place. The team already has a new coaching staff, led by Kellen Moore, and they could soon hit the reset button on the roster as well. With a horrendous cap situation, there’s a growing belief that New Orleans could say farewell to some high-paid veterans this offseason.

The biggest name that falls in that category is starting quarterback Derek Carr. After signing with the Saints two offseasons ago, Carr has two years left on his deal, with cap hits north of $50 million in each season. Since he has only brought the team mediocre results, he makes sense as a cut candidate, and everyone sees that.

ESPN’s Dan Graziano recently pointed that out in a piece looking at each team’s cap space predicament, and now, Matt Okada is saying the same. In a recent NFL.com piece, highlighting notable cut candidates, Okada detailed why Carr could be a free agent this offseason.

“Derek Carr…is probably a middle-of-the-pack starting quarterback — but his $51.5 million cap hit in 2025 is the fourth-highest at the position. The complications stem from the variety of options the Saints have with the 33-year-old QB. Cutting him straight-up would leave the team with $50.1 million in dead money and save just $1.3 million against the cap — doesn’t seem viable. Designating him as a post-June 1 cut nets $30 million in savings, with “only” $21.5 million in dead money, which is more manageable.”

Matt Okada (NFL.com)

Derek Carr named a cut candidate for the Saints

Okada breaks it all down. Carr has been good, but not elite, so the Saints must decide if he’s worth keeping, or if they will pursue moving on in a way that opens up the most cap space. It’s still early in the offseason, so New Orleans hasn’t really shown its hand yet.

The only thing that’s clear is that the Saints are actually deciding on whether to keep Carr or not. This was made evident in Kellen Moore’s introductory press conference. The first-time head coach was complimentary of Carr, but wouldn’t commit to him as the team’s quarterback. That means New Orleans is in the process of deciding the best path forward, with a decision likely coming before the start of free agency in March.

TOUGH DECISIONS: Saints HC Kellen Moore Left to Make ‘Painful Decisions’ Coming with Departure of stars

What are the New Orleans Saints going to do this offseason in order to get under the cap?

New Orleans is currently in a tough spot. The Saints won five games in 2024 and currently are last in the league in cap space at over -$47 million in cap space, per Over The Cap. It’s going to be a long offseason full of speculation and rumors.

ESPN’s Dan Graziano took a look at each team’s current cap situation and discussed possibilities for each franchise. For the Saints, he said there could be “painful decisions” on the way while specifically talking about team legend Cameron Jordan.

“Quarterback Derek Carr is set to make $40 million this season,” Graziano said. “Of that, $10 million is already guaranteed and the remaining $30 million becomes guaranteed in mid-March. His cap number is over $51 million. To knock that down, the Saints might need to extend him, but they could save $30 million on this year’s cap if they made him a post-June 1 cut.

“Also worth watching is the situation with Cameron Jordan, who’s a beloved longtime Saint and has told me he wants to finish his career in New Orleans. Jordan turns 36 in July, has one year left on his contract and is carrying a cap number of roughly $20 million for 2025. Is there an extension that makes sense for Jordan? And if not, is it possible they make him a post-June 1 cut to save $11 million on this year’s cap. Some hard and potentially painful decisions lie ahead for New Orleans.”

Hopefully, the Saints find a way to fix their cap situation without cutting ties with Jordan.

SHOCKER “FROM CARR TO ROGERS: Saints Surprisingly Linked To Jets Superstar Aaron Rodgers

Could the New Orleans Saints make a significant change at quarterback this offseason?

New Orleans has Derek Carr under contract but will have a massive cap hit in 2025 if the team doesn’t move on from him. There has been some chatter about a possible move but the team has not made an announcement at this time.

If the Saints decide to move on, who could be an option? WDSU 6 News’ Fletcher Mackel surprisingly floated New York Jets star Aaron Rodgers as a fit.

“New Orleans Saints,” Mackel said. “New coach Kellen Moore was complimentary of Derek Carr in his introductory news conference Thursday, but stopped short of saying he’d be New Orleans’ starting quarterback next season. That certainly created some speculation that perhaps the Saints could move on from Carr, who has two years left on his contract. Rodgers could step in for Carr, who was the Jets’ backup plan when they pursued Rodgers in 2023.”

Rodgers had a tumultuous two-year stint in New York. The Jets announced that they are going to move on from him this offseason. Could New Orleans look into him? It seems like it would be a pretty big shock. New Orleans has cap issues right now and even if it can save money from cutting ties with Carr, Rodgers still may be too expensive.

The Saints have Kellen Moore in town right now as the team’s head coach and he surely will make changes. It will be surprising to see the team go from Carr to Rodgers, though.

New Orleans Saints Lands their Darren Rizzi Perfect replacement, and they didn’t have to look very….…..

Kellen Moore continues to put together his first staff as an NFL head coach. His latest decision is a smart one, keeping a notable name in-house for New Orleans after the departure of Darren Rizzi.

Saints promote Phil Galiano to replace Darren Rizzi

According to Tom Pelissero, New Orleans is promoting Phil Galiano to special teams coordinator. Galiano spent the past six seasons with the Saints as an assistant coach alongside Rizzi.

Galiano has been around college football and the NFL for quite some time.

He has extensive experience on the defensive and special teams sides of the ball. Galiano was a defensive assistant for Penn State University in 2017 before joining the Saints’ staff.

He’s also spent time with the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the pros.

This move holds some continuity on staff for New Orleans, with a lot of other changes expected on the defensive side. Not to mention, the offensive staff has gotten a near-complete makeover since the hiring of Moore.

Rizzi joined Sean Payton’s staff with the Denver Broncos last week. That was no surprise whatsoever.

It’s a promotion for a coach that has spent half a decade learning the trade from one of the best in the business in Rizzi. Hiring Moore sealed the fate of Rizzi heading elsewhere, but this choice seems like a smart one for the future.

GOOD NEWS: Latest NFL news is even better than what HC Kellen Moore was hoping for entering his first free agency with the Saints as……...

The New Orleans Saints and the rest of the NFL received some notable news on Wednesday morning. It’s a good break for basically every team around the league, in regards to this offseason and a look ahead when it comes to the salary cap.

Salary cap news

The NFL today informed teams that the 2025 per-team salary cap will fall in the range of $277.5 million to $281.5 million, way up from last year’s $255.4 million. Cap will have increased by more than $53 million over the last two years.

— Dan Graziano

With that increase, every team got some more spending money, in essence. Many executives believed that number would be between $272-275 million, but that’s not the case.

Some teams have a hole to climb out of when it comes to cap space this offseason. Others, they’ll have even more of a head start on the rest of the NFL when it comes to available space.

How it affects the Saints

For the Saints, this opens an easier path to getting to cap compliancy. Of course, it won’t be a complete shift in terms of decisions, but they could make a couple different choices due to their increased spending power.

The Saints now currently sit just over $47M above the 2025 salary cap, according to OverTheCap.

The biggest dominoes to fall will be a potential release/restructure of Derek Carr, possible restructure of Cameron Jordan and/or Demario Davis, and decisions on bringing back Paulson Adebo or Juwan Johnson as notable free agents this offseason.

All in all, this news can change who we see on the Saints’ roster in 2026. Regardless, Kellen Moore and the front office have plenty of tough decisions to make in the coming months.