NFL Rumors: Saints unlikely to trade Derek Carr despite arrival of new HC Kellen Moore

Derek Carr has been connected to trade rumors during the 2025 NFL offseason amid the New Orleans Saints' ongoing rebuild. The possibility of him being moved seemed to increase when they brought in new head coach Kellen Moore, but after restructuring Carr's contract, a trade now seems unlikely.

NFL insider Albert Breer explained in a recent article with SI that the details of restructured contract indicates that he is most likely going to remain with the team for at least the upcoming 2025 NFL season.

He still has two years left on his current deal and the way that they recently formatted the restructure would make make it financially devastating to trade him now.

Breer described that the Saints opted to max out the conversion options on Derek Carr's contract, which basically brings his base salary down to a veteran's minimum while paying the remainder of his $30 million in a cash bonus.

This means that if they were to trade him this offseason, they would still need to pay him nearly $39 million to play for a different team. This type of salary cap penalty would be detrimental to just about any team, but especially for one in a rebuilding phase like the Saints.

They have many areas of their roster that they need to address, so increasing their dead cap money makes it much more difficult to do so. Trading Derek Carr post-restructure would mean nearly $60 million in dead cap money.

Now that Carr is likely to remain with the Saints for the 2025 NFL season, as outlined by Breer, the franchise can now focus on improving other areas of their roster for new head coach Kellen Moore. The veteran is apparently their short-term solution for quarterback at the least, but the question still remains about the future of the position.

Saints QB situation after restructuring Derek Carr contract

Derek Carr

The New Orleans Saints still have legitimate questions surrounding the long-term outlook of their quarterback situation. He is still under contract for two more seasons, but appears unlikely to receive an extension beyond that.

They still have a trio of young quarterback prospects on their roster in Spencer Rattler, Jake Haener and Ben DiNucci, but it will be interesting to see if Kellen Moore is sold on any of them as the potential future starter.

If he isn't, then they may use the 2025 NFL Draft to find a developmental project who can play behind Carr for now before eventually being given his opportunity.