The New Orleans Saints are already being mentioned as a potential landing-spot for Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, who was benched this week to protect the team from jeopardizing lucrative guarantees for injury written into his contract. And it’s easy to see why: New Orleans doesn’t have a viable franchise quarterback after sending Jameis Winston to the shadow realm and riding out their season with Andy Dalton.
More important than that, though, is that Saints head coach Dennis Allen drafted Carr back in 2014 when he was the Raiders head coach. The Athletic’s Jeff Howe is one national writer seeing that link, but his trade proposal bringing Carr to New Orleans is too much to pay for a mediocre quarterback — even one with Carr’s extensive starting experience. Howe writes:
“I’d offer the Saints’ second-round pick, which is currently projected to be 41st overall. And quite frankly, because the Saints are short on options and can’t continue spinning the QB roulette wheel, I’d add two or three Day 3 picks — let’s say fourth- and fifth-rounders — to get it done in case anyone else is offering something comparable to No. 41.”
So that would be the Saints’ top selection in 2023 plus a couple of mid-rounders, which New Orleans does own plenty of. In addition to their own picks in the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds, the Saints will be getting a fifth rounder in 2023 and a sixth rounder in 2024 back from Philadelphia. But that’s still a lot to fork over for a quarterback who has never won a playoff game, and who has had nine years to show he’s something special.
Yes, veteran quarterbacks are moved at a premium these days. Draft bust Carson Wentz was traded for a package of second- and third-round picks. Past-his-prime Matt Ryan was traded for a third rounder. Even mediocre passers are valued highly; the Saints themselves forfeited a third-round comp pick they would have gotten for losing Terron Armstead or Marcus Williams by signing Andy Dalton this offseason. This is probably a realistic offer for Carr’s services.
But what reason is there to believe he’s a real upgrade over what the Saints have in the building already? There’s no questioning whether they need a new quarterback. The question is whether paying what it would cost to trade for Carr would be worth it, or else that ends up feeling like a lateral move once the bill is due.