Derek Carr says he won’t take a pay cut for 2025

When the Saints signed quarterback Derek Carr two years ago after he was released by the Raiders, the contract was structured as a two-year guarantee with a team option thereafter.

Sooner than later, we’ll find out what the Saints opt to do.

For now, Carr is optimistic.

Via Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com, Carr said Monday that he has had “super positive” talks with the team about 2025.

“I got to take care of myself and then the rest after that is really out of my hands,” Carr said, per Terrell. “I’ve had great conversations with everyone in this building with [G.M.] 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.”

His $30 million salary for 2025 becomes fully guaranteed on the third day of the league year, in March. The money is currently guaranteed for injury; if the hand injury that caused him to miss the last four games of the season hasn’t sufficiently healed so that he can pass a physical by then, the $30 million obligation will become fully vested.

One thing is clear for now. Carr won’t take less.

“I wouldn’t take a pay cut,” Carr said. “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.”

Most multi-year veteran contracts have a clause that gives the team the ability to restructure the deal without the player’s consent. That entails converting a portion of the salary to a guaranteed payment that is then spread over multiple years, reducing his cap number for the current year.

At a minimum, a restructuring is coming. His cap number for next year is $51.458 million.

Cutting Carr with a post-June 1 designation would result in an $11.458 million dead-money charge in 2025, with another $28.674 million hitting the cap in 2026.

Carr currently has a $10 million fully-guaranteed roster bonus that is also due in March. If he’s released, it would be subject to offset. The Saints would avoid the obligation if he makes more than $10 million in 2025 with another team.

Then there’s the fact that the team will be hiring a new head coach. Presumably, the coach will have some say in the matter of whether Carr will return.

If he’s cut, it will happen early enough in free agency to give him a full and fair chance to land with a new team.

All of this assumes that Carr’s hand will be healed by the middle of March. If it isn’t, there’s not much of a decision to be made. He’ll be owed $40 million, fully guaranteed.