Former Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is signing with the New Orleans Saints, sources told ESPN’s Dianna Russini on Monday.
Carr appeared to confirm the news, tweeting Monday: “Who dat.”
The Saints, who finished 7-10 last season, were among three teams, including the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers, to have pursued Carr for several weeks after the Raiders allowed the veteran quarterback to talk to teams to possibly facilitate a trade.
Carr, 31, visited New Orleans and met with several members of the organization over two days in early February. He also met again with the team last week at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.
The Saints entered the offseason more than $50 million over the expected 2023 salary cap of $224.8 million but now need about $18 million to become compliant after contract restructures for several players. The next question after Carr is what they’ll do with wide receiver Michael Thomas, who restructured his contract earlier in the offseason to give both sides more flexibility ahead of free agency. He remains under contract at this time.
Thomas retweeted two articles about Carr’s anticipated signing Monday morning and posted “Thank you Jesus” to his timeline at the same time.
Carr declined to waive a no-trade clause in his contract and was released by the Raiders on Feb. 14 — just before a deadline that would have guaranteed $40 million of his contract over the next two years. The release allowed him to immediately sign with any team instead of waiting until the official start of free agency.
Last season he finished with 3,522 passing yards (the third-lowest mark of his nine-year career), 24 touchdown passes, 14 interceptions (tied for the most in a single season), a 60.8% completion percentage (a career low) and an 86.3 passer rating (a career low).