New Orleans Saints’ Super Bowl Odds Boost After Derek Carr News

Derek Carr agreed to join the New Orleans Saints, which immediately boosted their chances to win the Super Bowl. Before the news about the deal broke out, the Saints were at 40-1 to go all the way. Now, they sit at 30-1 with a trend of shortening those numbers.

The franchise from Louisiana was one of the contenders for bringing the former Raider, but they weren’t in the media’s focus as some other teams. In the end, they ended up snatching him from the market. According to sources from within the organization, Car agreed to a four-year contract worth up to $150 million and $100 million in guaranteed money.

The 31-year-old gets $60 million upon signing and $10 more at the start of the contract’s third year. The Saints had to restructure several contracts on the team to create enough cap space for Carr.

BREAKING: Saints signing QB Derek Carr to 4-year deal. (via @MikeGarafolo, @RapSheet) pic.twitter.com/40y5LWBFz8

— NFL (@NFL) March 6, 2023

Las Vegas Raiders released Carr before the trade, saving $40 million in guarantees they would owe the player.

Derek Carr comes off a bad season for his standards, with him collecting 3.522 passing yards, 24 touchdown passes, and 14 picks. He had career lows in completion percentages, 60.8%, and a passer rating of 86.3. It was obvious that the Raiders couldn’t continue with Carr, who was present on the team for the last nine years.

New Orleans didn’t waste too much time, mainly because the Saints’ coach, Dennis Allen, had a huge role in the Raiders’ decision to draft Allen back in 2014. He would be fired later that year, but the connection between the two remained despite the long period that had passed.

Right now, the question is whether Carr can improve the Saints, who have a certain quality but were without a QB in the past few years. Even with Drew Brees involved, they struggled to deliver as Brees’ quality of play significantly dropped over in his last seasons.

After his retirement, the Saints tried with Jameis Winston, Taysom Hill and Andy Dalton, but they didn’t succeed. Winston could be released shortly, while Dalton hits the free agency.

The #Saints & Derek Carr agreed on a 4-yr deal for $150M with $100M in total guarantees, per me & @MikeGarafolo. He gets $70M effectively fully guaranteed ($60M at signing, another $10M in Year 3 vesting after Year 1). Carr structures his deal to accommodate Saints’ cap issues. pic.twitter.com/vs6qaBh7rg

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 6, 2023

The Saints were one of the NFC powerhouses, but in the last two years they haven’t been able to reach the playoffs. After 9-8 in 2021, they posted only seven victories in the 2022 year, under the new head coach, Allen. Carr is expected to make things better and make the Saints the top favorite to win the NFC South, one of the weakest divisions in the league.

Last year’s divisional champions were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had eight wins and nine losses. With Brady out of the picture, the Bucs are bound to be worse, while the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons are still wandering around and searching for themselves.

The Saints have a solid core, that has been together for a long time, especially on the offensive side of the ball, with WR Michael Thomas and RB Alvin Kamara. Their defense has been one of the better in the league in the past few campaigns, and it is expected to improve following this year’s NFL Draft, as well as the offense.