The NFC south has three teams sitting at 1-0, but @CharlesWoodson thinks his old teammate Derek Carr and the Saints are the team to beat 💪 pic.twitter.com/fOzS23TRhx
Buy Saints Tickets— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 13, 2023
Derek Carr’s got one national analyst in his corner: his former Raiders teammate Charles Woodson. The Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back is covering the NFL with FOX Sports these days, and he’s very encouraged by what he saw from Carr in the New Orleans Saints’ season-opening win over the Tennessee Titans.
Woodson says he sees a sustainable formula for Carr to lead the Saints to a lot of wins in 2023, now that Carr has a defense which can help take some pressure off him.
“Derek Carr has played on some teams with piss-poor defenses, and I know because I was a part of a couple of them,” Woodson began. “And he’s never played with a defense that’s been one of the tops in scoring defenses in the league. But now he gets to play with the Saints, who have been at the top in scoring defenses the last three years. So he’s going to be able to play with some leads now and keep the lead, and not have to worry about going out and bringing teams back.”
Woodson also talked up Carr’s supporting cast on offense, pointing to a receiving corps that is awful talented at the top. Carr connected with four different players on receptions of 20-plus yards in Week 1, and Woodson sees more big-play opportunities ahead for them.
He continued: “And the great thing is he has other weapons (than just Michael Thomas). And I like Chris Olave. People talk about those Ohio State receivers, Garrett Wilson and (Jaxon Smith-Njigba), they think that Njigba was the best of the three? But for my money I like Olave.”
Hey, Woodson has an eye for receiving talent, too. Olave led that trio in receptions (50), receiving yards (729), and touchdown catches (7) when they were together in Columbus back in 2020, and the extra attention he demanded from defenses in 2021 help both of his teammates break out and improve their draft stock. Olave left college with the school record in touchdown receptions, too (35).
He may have been snubbed for Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, but Olave’s 112 receiving yards last week were the second-highest in a game of his NFL career so far. If the Saints defense can create opportunities for Carr to hit the field in good position, it shouldn’t take long for him and Olave to get to work.
