METAIRIE, La. -- New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr said he's had "super positive" conversations with team leadership regarding his future after missing seven games in 2024.
Carr missed the final four games of the season with two fractures in his non-throwing hand and missed three games earlier in the season due to a strained oblique.
Carr said "it sucked" to be on the sideline as the Saints (5-11) lost the final four games of the season. He said his focus now is getting back to full health while the Saints hold a search for the head coaching position.
"I got to take care of myself and then the rest after that is really out of my hands," Carr said on Monday. "I've had great conversations with everyone in this building with (general manager) Mickey [Loomis], with (owner) Ms. [Gayle] Benson, with everybody. And we all have mutual feelings and so my confidence level is very high and what can happen, what could happen. And we've shown what it could possibly be at times. The hard part is we had to deal with some stuff that we didn't get to see that full picture all the time. So we'll see."
Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi confirmed he will interview for the vacant position, likely as early as next week. A source confirmed to ESPN the Saints requested to interview Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
Carr is due $40 million in cash next year and will count $51.45 million against the salary cap in 2025 if the Saints don't restructure his contract. Due to a restructure last offseason, Carr will have the Saints' largest salary cap figure. The Saints are expected to be significantly over the salary cap this offseason and will have to release or restructure multiple contracts to get cap compliant.
"That's the life of a quarterback," Carr told ESPN. "Whenever the season doesn't go end the way [you wanted] that's the person people look at. Well what money can we free up to get this and do this ... And I'm fully confident with what I put on tape. I'm not worried, if that's the case, and it had to change and all that kind of stuff. I'm super confident that whatever it is, I could get anywhere else to play. And so I'm not worried about that, but at the same time, I just want to win."
Carr was 5-5 as a starter in 2024 and the Saints did not win a game with backup quarterbacks Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener.
"People can form their own opinions about Derek Carr and again, they're entitled to those," Rizzi said on Monday. "We didn't win a game when he didn't start."
Carr has two years remaining on the free agent deal he signed prior to the 2023 season. Carr, whose contract average of $37.5 million ranks in a tie for 15th at his position according to Over The Cap, said he would not be open to a pay cut.
"I wouldn't take a pay cut," he told ESPN. "Yeah, I wouldn't do that. Especially with what I put on tape. Would I restructure? Absolutely. I'll always help the team that way. But there's some things that you put out there that you earned. Even in some cases it could be even worse, but I felt confident when I signed it that this would give the team the best flexibility at the time ... But there's always a kind of respect as a quarterback you're like, well still we're in that respectful lane. 'We're good. Build the team.' But yeah, I wouldn't take anything less to do this. It's hard enough putting our bodies through it. And you're trying to get everything you can for your family for it."
Rizzi refuted reports that Carr's injury was potentially season ending just days after Carr left a Week 13 game against the New York Giants. Carr ultimately did not play again, but said he was not placed on IR because he was attempting to beat the projected timetable.
Rizzi acknowledged on Monday that there were likely people who thought he was "full of crap" for saying Carr was week-to-week, along with other injured players like Alvin Kamara.
"I'm sure they thought I was throwing that out there for the opponent," Rizzi said. "I mean Derek Carr was in there every day ... I'm watching a guy that wanted to get back and wanted to play. Did Alvin want to get back and get 1,000 yards? ... Absolutely. He wanted to play."
Carr said he was not told that his injury was season ending, but said the reports about his season ending likely came from the amount of weeks he was initially expected to miss.
"I knew in my head I was going to do everything I could for the last day to be able to make it," Carr told ESPN. "And there was a process, a plan we set up to inject it at a certain time and to play and I did it. And then when I went to try and do my job, I just couldn't do my job. And so do people know more than me? Absolutely. But am I hardheaded? Yes, absolutely."
Carr said he was particularly disappointed not to return to play against his former team when the Saints hosted the Las Vegas Raiders. He said they tried to inject his hand with a painkiller ahead of that game to try to get him ready but he couldn't grip the football."
"It's not even from a revenge kind of thing. I've got a great relationship with (owner) Mr. [Mark] Davis. ... [coach Antonio Pierce] and all those players. There was no ill will or anything. It was just like, I want play against my former team. I want to play against my friends," Carr told ESPN. "I wanted to, and that was way too big of a stretch. They even let me inject [my hand] then and they were like, we're going to let you do it. But they just said, 'You'll see. And I did it and I couldn't even hold a football."
He added: "I tried to stay as positive as I could all the way through the beginning of last week, and then they let me try and they kind of knew, but they were just letting me do [it], which I appreciate as a player. They let me try and they were like, 'Yeah, it's not going to work. And so (team trainer) Shone [Gipson] and our training staff were like, 'Look, you're doing everything you can and you can continue to try, but we also have to protect you at this point. If it can't work, it would hurt the team. You can't even take a snap."
