The New Orleans Saints addressed the quarterback spot in a big way this offseason by signing veteran quarterback Derek Carr. Reactions to the signing have been mixed, as not everyone is sold on if Carr can bring a team to the light.
In a recent article ESPN’s Dan Graziano said that Carr has to improve in New Orleans if he wants to garner respect as a top-quarterback in the league; Carr left the Raiders with a 63-79 record as a starter and just one playoff appearance in 2021, but it’s a team sport and a lot of factors were out of his control. Here was Graziano’s reasoning:
Carr has always seemed like a quarterback who was just sort of “good enough.” As in, good enough that you don’t feel a crying need to look for other options, but not quite good enough to really win with. There were flashes, sure. There was that great 2016 season when the Raiders went 12-4 and made the playoffs but Carr broke his leg right at the end of the regular season. Carr never really “got there” in terms of proving himself as quarterback who could elevate a team from good to great.
Now, there are all kinds of stats that show that Carr never had a good defense, let alone a great one, while with the Raiders. And the Saints will probably have a great defense this year. So we might get to find out whether Carr was being held back in Oakland/Vegas by forces beyond his control.
I would agree that Carr has not yet really proven himself to be an elite quarterback, but I would say that he has shown to be more than serviceable in continuous awful situations in Oakland and Las Vegas. The Raiders franchise hasn’t been one that has been able to build a winning culture since the 1980s.
There’s an argument to be made that this will be Carr’s best defense that he’s ever gotten to work with, so that would give him a larger leash than ever. It’s hard to say that this will be his best coaching staff, as Dennis Allen has been his coach before and was actually the one that draft him in Oakland.
Overall, this will likely be the best situation that Carr has had internally in a franchise and will be facing what is considered the easiest schedule in the NFL. While there might be some growing pains, there certainly isn’t much of an excuse to continue to be an middling quarterback.
