Falcons fans unfortunately have to be jealous of Saints fans on Monday after one of the surprises of the offseason: Derek Carr announced his retirement.
Carr’s shoulder issue prompted the decision, but the impact is mostly felt through the salary cap. The Saints have notoriously played cap gymnastics to get under the salary cap for the 2025 campaign. At one point, the team was projected to be more than $50 million over the league’s salary cap.
New Orleans resturcuted several of their larger contracts, including Carr’s, to get cap compliant. The Saints will now get $30 million in cash and cap relief, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
“Derek Carr’s decision to retire gives the Saints $30 million in cash and cap relief,” Garafolo said. “In exchange, he gets to keep his $10 million roster bonus from March and the team will not seek reimbursement of his signing bonus.”
Granted, the Saints aren’t going to compete this season, and they were never going to, but this news paints a much prettier outlook for New Orleans. The Saints might have their guy in Tyler Shough; however, even if they don’t, they’re set up financially and probably draft-wise to capitalize perfectly.
Who cares if Shough sucks? The Saints will then be in an ideal position to land a franchise quarterback in next year’s draft, which is loaded. This doesn’t happen often, but the Falcons have to be jealous of their most-hated rivals.
How great would it be if Kirk Cousins retired and the Falcons suddenly had $27.5 million to play with? That’s the dream, and the Saints are living it, which has to make everybody in Atlanta sick to their stomach.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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