How Derek Carr's Retirement Could Help Transform Saints

The New Orleans Saints had a wild end to the week last week.

New Orleans' quarterback room took a significant turn. The Saints opted to keep Derek Carr earlier in the offseason by restructuring his deal rather than cutting ties with him through a trade or release. The Saints publicly committed to Carr and made it known he would be the team's starter. But, a shoulder injury has heavily impacted Carr to the point that he decided to hang up his cleats and announce his retirement after 11 years in the National Football League.

This decision will end up having huge implications for New Orleans. Obviously, this will be the case on the field. Right now, the expectation is that there will be a quarterback competition featuring Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler, and Jake Haener. It wouldn't be too big of a surprise to see another veteran added to the room as well.

But, the impact could be felt even more with the salary cap. New Orleans has pulled cap gymnastics to get everything in order for the 2025 season. When the offseason kicked off after the Super Bowl, the Saints were projected to have over -$50 million in cap space. The Saints were ranked dead-last in the league.

New Orleans restructured a handful of deals -- including Carr -- in order to get into compliance. With Carr heading off into the sun and hanging up his cleats, the Saints will 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."

That's pretty massive. With the contract restructurings, the Saints didn't solve their cap issues. They just pushed them into the future. This cap relief from Carr's retirement will significantly help fix this. Now, the Saints have a potential quarterback of the future and significantly more cap space. Could another big move be on the way? It wouldn't hurt to add another receiver and guys like Amari Cooper and Keenan Allen are still out there. New Orleans is in a surprisingly-good financial situation now.

More NFL: Aaron Rodgers Called ‘Emergency Option’ For Saints