“The Saints are the frontrunner for Derek Carr and it’s a place that would make a ton of sense for him” ~ @RapSheet#PMSinAZ #Saints pic.twitter.com/bbAoiaOqvV
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) February 8, 2023
Derek Carr is busy meeting with the New Orleans Saints on Wednesday, and we’ve got some insight on the situation from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Rapoport broke things down during an appearance on the Pac McAfee Show, in which he said the Saints are the front-runner to acquire the Las Vegas Raiders quarterback. That doesn’t mean things are signed, sealed, and delivered, but it does mean things are trending that way.
One point Rapoport clarified is that the Saints and Raiders have not necessarily agreed on trade compensation so much as reached an understanding on the framework of a deal: “What my understanding of the situation is, he was only going to be allowed to visit if a team was willing to give the compensation that it would take to do a trade. … They’re in the ballpark. They’re in the conversation. It’s not like, I know the pick, here’s what it is. It’s like, yeah, this is kind of the range a pick might be.”
And Rapoport added other scenarios to the discussion: what if Carr is willing to redo his contract to facilitate a trade, which would add incentive to the Raiders in taking on some of his salary, thus increasing the asking-price? What if Carr doesn’t want to weaken the Saints by forcing them to send a draft pick when he could wait and sign with them as a free agent? What if the Saints aren’t willing to pay him what he’s seeking on a contract extension?
These are all topics that will be discussed during his visit, and any scenario will change the specific draft-pick compensation going back to Las Vegas. At the end of the day, everyone needs to be on the same page. Carr and the Saints need to agree on the money. The Saints and the Raiders need to agree on the trade compensation. If either of those two conversations go sideways, a trade won’t happen.