MONEY?!: New Orleans Saints’ Cap Situation DRAMATICALLY Shifts After Derek Carr Announces Retirement

MONEY?!: New Orleans Saints’ Cap Situation DRAMATICALLY Shifts After Derek Carr Announces Retirement

The New Orleans Saints are now set to get some major salary cap assistance and may even be on the brink of financial freedom. We got all that and a little bit of land yap for you on today’s episode of Locked on Saints. You are Locked On Saints, your daily New Orleans Saints podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What is good Hudet nation and Hudet family? I am your host, your friend Ross Jackson, New Orleans native, your New Orleans Saints expert and credentialed member of the media covering those New Orleans Saints as a Saints beatriter over at louisianaapasports.net. And on today’s episode of Locked on Saints, I want to give you three Kell Moore quotes that we’re going to play for you here that tell you that Tyler Shuck is his guy. And we’re also going to take a look at the salary cap implications again around the Derek Carr retirement as we got updated information here and the Saints are set for some major salary cap relief. We got all that and much more for you on today’s episode. We appreciate you very much for joining us whether it’s your first time or your next time being here with us this time making this your first listen and being an everydayer here on the show which is a proud part of Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. The New Orleans Saints are on the brink of being out of cap heck. They are almost there. And it all comes down to how they somehow got Derek Carr to agree to give back $30 million of his $40 million that was restructured from this year to the New Orleans Saints. Now, as we expected, it was going to be a little bit more complicated than them just getting $30 million back, completely free, and they would just ride off into the sunset with $57 million this year, which really would have been all about rolling money over anyway. But after speaking with, when I tell you a bunch of people, I mean a bunch of people with knowledge of the salary cap, NFL sources, team sources, all these other things, um I think we have an idea of where this will go. And I want to give Mike Triplet over at New Orleans that football credit as well. He ended up putting this out last night. So, I wanted to come and further clarify here as well. Uh, what’s going on forward for you here on the show. So, um, as we take a look at all of this, and I’ve got a story that will come out later on today at louisianaapports.net if you want to see it all written out, like how much they gonna save in 2025, how much they gonna save in 2026, what why is this important, why is that important? Like, it literally just lays it all out. Uh, but what we believe to be the case, there’s still some kind of, you know, wiggle room in all this, but what we believe to be the case is that once Derek Carr’s retirement is process, which will be post June 1, so we assume on June 2nd, same time as Ryan Ramch’s retirement will be public will be uh processed. For instance, um Derek Carr would the the the money that goes back to New Orleans from Derek Carr’s $30 million of of his initial base salary is the 1.25 255 million that his contract was restructured down to this season. So the Saints would get $1.255 million back once his contract and once his retirement is processed. Now that will, you know, probably swap spots with somebody in the top 51 and all these other things and then will eventually become something that just kind of gets absorbed when the cap goes from just being a top 51 cap hits to the 53 cap hits plus your practice squad. But with the Saints sitting with over $27 million of salary cap available, they’ll be fine in terms of all that. They should be in position if all goes well this year. Or if they don’t go out and spend on a big, you know, remaining free agent, which doesn’t seem likely at this point, I honestly there aren’t that many bigname free agents out there that would require that amount of money, but you know, a $10 million deal here or whatever. like as long as they avoid that stuff, which I highly advise they do, uh then that would put them in a situation to where they would be able to roll over potentially double digit like tens of millions of dollars, 10 to 15 million at the end of this season into next season. The reason why that becomes important is because the other 28.7ish million that the Saints would end up saving all would impact next year’s salary cap. The reason why that’s important is because the New Orleans are currently $42 million over the salary cap next year. It’s like $42.7 million. And so if $28.7 million all of a sudden lands next season for them in reducing Derek Carr’s dead cap number, then all of a sudden they would be just about $14 million over the salary cap next season instead of $42 million. That’s a major step forward for this New Orleans Saints team who back in 2021 was $100 million over the salary cap and had to clear that money and more in order to go out there and spend in free agency this year or next year rather in 2026. With that influx of cash coming from the rest of his deal or the money coming back from his deal, excuse me, plus the money that the Saints roll over from this season into next season, the Saints might be singledigit million dollars over the salary cap. Now, they’re still going to have to restructure deals or cut players. Like, they’re still going to have to do things to move money around in order to be able to spend next off season, but it puts them in a much better position. And if you remember right too, over the course of the past couple of years, the salary cap, the NFL’s salary cap as a whole has gone up more than expected. And so, if the Saints are just a couple million dollars over the salary cap, depending upon what that salary cap is, that ceiling might go a little bit higher. And the Saints might actually be under the salary cap by the time that the new league year begins. How insane is that? How long has it been since we’ve been able to say something like that about the New Orleans Saints when it comes to their salary cap measures? Now look, this is a team that has no issue operating one year ahead in the deficit. That’s the plan. That was always the plan. It’s just that the COVID year kind of blew things up. They never intended to be operating a hundred million in the deficit in a future year, but 20 to $40 million, I think they’d be perfectly comfortable with that. So, I think they’ll still borrow from 2027 in order to be able to spend in 2026, but they’re going to be able to do this in a much more controlled manner than the way that things kind of got away from them after the salary cap dipped back in 2020. And so, 2020/2021. And so I think that ends up being where the Saints get their biggest relief is going into 2026. And you might say, “Oh man, I really wish that they had gotten all of that money here in 2025.” Uh, not really any reason to. Again, they’re not going to go spend that money here in 2025. And the whole situation would have been then to just roll that money over. This effectively just ensures that they roll that money over because the the larger portion or the bulk of that $30 million savings won’t hit until 2026. That’s good news for New Orleans. Now, there’s another version of this where the Saints get like $6 million back this year and then get $24 million back next year. If you think about $30 million restructured over five years, that would be that would be $6 million per year. So, that could be the way that things go, too. But it looks like it’s just going to be base salary coming back after the retirement is posted. And then the larger chunk of that $30 million impacting their 2026 salary, which is where you want it to impact anyway. And the Saints are that much closer, really not not even like a little bit. I mean, like they are much much closer now to that financial freedom because of whatever it was that allowed them to be able to get that $30 million back from Derek Carr as opposed to his as as a part of his retirement agreement. Whether that was some stipulation they worked out, whether that was some compromise they worked out, whether it was just Derek Carr being a good guy, or whether that was the Saints playing hard ball. I don’t know exactly what it was that got it done. I don’t know that we ever will, but uh something went right somewhere and the New Orleans Saints are on their way to financial freedom for the first time in it feels like for ever and and with a potential rookie starting contract in tow, which is huge in terms of your ability to be able to spend and share the wealth around your team. Coming up next, Kell Moore laid out what it is that he’s looking for in his next quarterback, and it sure sounds like Tyler Shuck. We got that coming up for you as we continue on with today’s episode of Locked on Saints, part of Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today’s episode of Locked On Saint is brought to you by friends over at Upwork. If you’ve got a business that’s ready to scale up, it can be challenging sometimes because you’re trying to find people with the right expertise at the right time. That’s where Upwork comes in. You’re not always looking for a long-term partner over with your company, right? Sometimes you’re looking for a freelancer to come and help you with individual projects. And those individual projects end up being the things that help your business take their next steps. That’s where Upwork can help you out. Whether you’re looking for folks in IT, AI, web development, and marketing, they’ll be able to help you find those high quality, experienced freelancers that will be able to help you get your jobs done. Cost effective growth. That’s what Upwork is all about. Instead of hiring full-time, you can find those affordable, top tier folks to come in and help scale your business more efficiently. So, visit upwork.com right now to post your job for free. That’s upw.com.upwork.com to connect with top talent and grow your business today. Let’s get it, Huda Nation. The more and more that Kell Moore describes what it is that he wants from his next starting quarterback, the more and more it sounds like Moore’s guy is Tyler Shuck. Little bit of word play for you there. You’re welcome. Um, look, I I I keep saying that I think that Tyler Shuck has the inside track or the kind of edge when it comes to landing the Saints starting quarterback role week one of the 2025 NFL season. And I’m not saying that because I don’t think that guys like Spencer Rattler or Jake can win the job. I think Spencer Rattler in particular is more than talented enough. I think you saw flashes of what he would be like uh of what he could be last year, but you saw it with a a subpar coaching staff and an injured roster. What could it be like with a better coaching staff, a quarterback focused coaching staff and a healthy roster? But none of that matters if the coaching staff’s guy is on the roster. And it sure sounds like the coaching staff’s guy is on the roster. And so I want to play three clips for you today. Two of which are from yesterday’s mandatory I keep saying mandatory mini camp rookie mini camp uh presser in which he described what it is that he’s looking for from the starting quarterback or from the young guy that will become the starting quarterback. Uh a response to what it is that Tyler Shuck can do. And then I want to go all the way back to the night that Tyler Shuck was drafted and play a clip for you of what Kell Moore said about Tyler Shuck when I asked what it is that you’re look what it is that maybe doesn’t stand out on film from a physical side, but you notice as a former quarterback. So, let’s start off with one of the more recent clips. This is what uh Kell Moore said that he’s looking for outside of the physical traits. what he’s looking for from that group of young quarterbacks to prove that they can be the next starter in his offense. Well, I would say, you know, the physical component is something certainly we’ll all gravitate to. We’ll love to see the throws, the completions, the distance the ball’s thrown, uh, all those sorts of things. I think a lot of it comes into the operation and the way they operate, the offense, the way they communicate with everyone on the field. Uh, again, the quarterback has no choice. It’s a leadership role and and there’s no real way around that. And so it’s really really important to see these guys take ownership and go for it. And so u you know that really comes alive when you get into training camp and pads when you get into preseason games and all of us get to the sideline and let these guys roll. And so uh you know we feel good about that. So it’s about the operation. It’s about the mental side of the game. It’s about being able to get in and out of the huddle, call the plays and be able to run what it is that Kell Moore’s offense demands. That makes sense, right? that nothing there is is earthshattering in terms of what a coach would want from his quarterback, but it is always interesting to get a former quarterback’s perspective in Kell Moore. Uh his perspective on what it is that he’s looking for from a young quarterback to be the starter in his offense. And so now I want to play for you a clip of his response to So that was a response to a question that I asked. Here’s a response to the question that Nick Underh Hill asked about how well he believes Tyler Shuck is prepared to run that operation and why. For a number of people, uh, you know, playing under center on occasion, playing out of a huddle on occasion, using a cadence on occasion, some quarterbacks have been exposed to some of those elements. Um, not that they can’t quickly learn them. Tyler certainly been around that for a really long time, been exposed to a lot of different systems. Again, uh I think one of the impressive components of this weekend is him going in there and just taking command of the huddle, calling plays really confidently, decisive. Boy, it sounds awful familiar, doesn’t it? It sounds a lot like his answer about what it is that he’s looking for in a quarterback to run his offense. Now, you might say, “Oh, well, that has a lot to do with the fact that like he had answered a question already that day and then in the same press conference, he was asked a question and so maybe he was pulling from a little bit of what he said before.” No issue with that. And I also highlight that he also took the time to make sure that he said and hey look Tyler Shuck knows these things but it’s not impossible for other guys to learn those things. So if there is any quarterback in his room that he feels doesn’t necessarily have that experience that Tyler Shuck specifically had in that pro style offense running the operation that’s similar to what it is that he would want to do all those other things that he doesn’t believe that those guys can’t learn how to do it. So, good, good move by Kell Moore to just continuously massage this situation to where it’s about these other quarterbacks. But now, let’s go all the way back to day two of the NFL draft and what Kell Moore said when I asked him what it is that he’s looking for or what it is that stands out to him as a former quarterback about Tyler Shuck. Now remember the question that I asked him during mandatory mini camp is what stands out to him as a former quarterback of what he’s going to be looking for that’s maybe a little bit more of the minutia a little bit more nuanced around those young quarterbacks to know that they’re ready. So here’s what he said about him being a former quarterback and what stands out to him about Tyler Shuck in the scheme that he played his last year I thought was a great example of uh you know he had a lot of tools at the line scrimmage. He had the ability to get in and out of plays. Uh some of those intangible things I think are very valuable. Uh so he has experience doing that. uh you know checking and making some decisions there at the line of scrimmage and so uh you know I think that’s hugely valuable. Obviously he’s played in uh you know he’s played in the action game, he’s played in the quick game. I thought they had a cool blend. Uh they they play in the RPO and ball out game, but then they they take their shots and you know he’s he can he can attack all levels of the game and he’s done all those and so uh yeah I think he’s he’s done a lot of things which is which is a great advantage to him. Sounds awful familiar, doesn’t it? can get in and out of the huddle cleanly, can you know make the checks at the line of scrimmage, can you know make the right decisions at the line of scrimmage, all those other things, it’s all about the operation. So, what it is that Kell Moore is saying that he’s looking for from a more nuanced perspective of the quarterback in this room, whether it be Tyler Shuck, Spencer Rattler, or Jake Kainer, that will effectively help them win the quarterback position that’s away from their physical traits is their ability to run the operation. The things that Tyler Shuck has done in his past allow and make Kell Moore feel like he can run the operation. And the thing that stood out about Kell Moore from a non-physical standpoint as a former quarterback about Tyler Shuck was his ability to run the operation. You see what I’m getting at here? This is why I keep saying it feels very much like this is Tyler Shuck’s real opportunity and it’s kind of his job to lose. Now, like I said, if Spencer Rather or Jake go out there and they clearly outperform Tyler Shuck, you have to pay attention to that. If you’re the New Orleans Saints coaching staff, you have to pay attention to that. You have to believe what you are seeing. But if it’s tied or Tyler Shuck has a slight lead, consider the case closed. This very much feels like Tyler Shuck is Kell Moore’s guy and Kell Moore is doing the right thing by keeping everything open, but it feels very much like this is going to be Tyler Shuck’s job by week one, assuming that all goes well and he doesn’t go out there and play poorly during training camp in the preseason. Obviously, that would change everything, but it feels like what it is that Kellmore is looking for from his from his next starting quarterback aligns very much with why he drafted his most recent rookie quarterback. And I think that’s something that’s worth acknowledging. Uh coming up in tomorrow’s episode, what I want to do is take a look at how Tyler Shuck is responding to this opportunity. So, we’re going to turn the page from just the Derek Carr retirement to where the New Orleans Saints go next. We got that coming up for you in tomorrow’s episode. We appreciate you very much as always for making us a part of your day, part of your routine, for saying yes to me on the show. As always, if you see me, please say hi. And if you need anything else around your New Orleans dates in between these episodes, make sure you follow me on your favorite social media, RossJackna. Hit me up. Let me know the family’s doing them, how you living. Let me know how you moming them. And trust that nation, I’ll holler at you.

The New Orleans Saints are on the brink of financial freedom following Derek Carr’s retirement, which promises significant salary cap relief. With $30 million set to return to the Saints’ coffers over the next two seasons, the team is set to have newfound flexibility.

Kellen Moore’s insights into quarterback traits reveal a strong alignment with Tyler Shough’s capabilities, hinting at a potential frontrunner in the Saints’ quarterback competition. Moore’s emphasis on leadership and operational skills suggests Shough might have the edge. As the Saints strategize for the upcoming season, the quarterback battle looms large.

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