NFL insider suggests Saints could land Derek Carr in a surprising fashion

Derek Carr is likely to be traded this offseason, and one team has emerged as a leader to land him

Derek Carr showed up to Pro Bowl week ready to talk about his future. He and the Las Vegas Raiders have already made it clear that a split, one way or another, is coming. Carr said goodbye and thank you to Raiders fans and has spoken about how he’s excited to try to win elsewhere. He’s also clearly moved on, making fun of his entire time in Las Vegas during the Pro Bowl festivities.

A number of teams out there (the entire NFC South, for one) could use a quarterback. Carr joins a short list that will probably include Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Garoppolo of veteran quarterbacks available with somewhat proven experience. Depending on how things go with their incumbent teams, Lamar Jackson and Daniel Jones could join that list, too.

Some insider reporting has indicated the early favorites to land Carr.

Saints are the team many think Derek Carr is going to end up on

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, as a part of an insider article in the follow-up to the Senior Bowl (subscription required), said that there was a lot of buzz during the week in Alabama around a Derek Carr-New Orleans Saints connection.

It makes a lot of sense. The Saints need a quarterback (neither Andy Dalton nor Jameis Winston have proven they are worth relying on for the future) and they have the pieces in place to win now if they figure that piece of the puzzle out. But they don’t have a draft pick in position to get any of the exciting rookie quarterbacks available, save for Hendon Hooker who is coming off of an injury.

Fowler, though, mentions the Saints’ picks received in the Sean Payton deal as part of a possible framework to a deal that lands Carr in New Orleans.

The Saints, who already traded their own first-round pick to the Eagles some time ago, just got a first back. Is using it on Derek Carr really the best move, considering the Raiders have made it quite clear they’ll be getting rid of Carr one way or another?

New Orleans might be better off pursuing Aaron Rodgers if they’re going to be spending that much.

Carr’s connection with the Saints has been well publicized. The much-maligned head coach Dennis Allen will be back in New Orleans next year and was Carr’s coach with the Raiders years ago.

In fact, the Saints are much better off waiting to see what Vegas does before making a lunge at Carr. The Raiders need to cut Carr by February 15th to avoid a whole lot of cap hit, so it’ll be interesting to see how this develops in the coming weeks. They could get him for simply cap space, forget the picks altogether.