Report: Carr, Saints at odds over contract restructure
04/16/2025
By Ross Jackson
The insinuations around quarterback Derek Carr and his alleged goal of forcing his way off of the New Orleans Saints roster continue to heat up.
On Tuesday, 33rd Team NFL insider Ari Meirov corroborated the reports from The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. While on his NFL Spotlight podcast, he outlined similar league beliefs to what Russini shared earlier in the week that Carr’s injury news is actually an attempt to force a split between him and the Saints organization.
Adding further context, however, Meirov highlights that the league also speculates that Carr never wanted his contract restructured, which opposes Carr’s own comments from the end of the season.
There’s buzz around NFL circles that Derek Carr has been wanting out of the #Saints all offseason — and his shoulder injury might be part of that push.
Meanwhile, the #Saints have been planning to draft a QB regardless. But we have not heard the end of this. https://t.co/syg5wQ9Rix pic.twitter.com/unTpVMRqlg
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 16, 2025
“People around the NFL believe Derek Carr has been trying to get out of New Orleans,” Meirov said. “And the Saints restructuring his contract was something he wished they did not do. But they did it. It essentially marries him to the roster for this year. If they really want to move on, it’s going to be very painful from a cap standpoint.”
If that truly is the case, that Carr did not want to be restructured, that would be an about-face from his comments to ESPN’s Katherine Terrell, where he explicitly said that he wouldn’t take a pay cut but would restructure his contract.
“I wouldn’t take a pay cut,” Carr told Terrell. “Yeah, I wouldn’t do that. Especially with what I put on tape. Would I restructure? Absolutely. I’ll always help the team that way. But there’s some things that you put out there that you earned.”
His comments to Terrell were made during the final locker room availability of the season (January 6), and Carr’s contract was restructured on March 8. Since then, wide receiver Brandin Cooks made it apparent that he and Carr had spoken after signing with the Saints weeks later.
“Yeah, I’ve gotten a chance to speak with Derek,” Cooks said during his introductory media availability. “As far as how we’re going to work together, it’s mainly just ‘Let’s get to work and let’s figure everything else out.’ But no specifics on how we’re going to work together.”
If Carr has really had one foot out of the door all offseason, perhaps that explains the lack of specifics. Something seems amiss in New Orleans when it comes to Carr, and the situation looks like it will only get more complicated from here.