Saints Reportedly Adjusted Derek Carr's Contract Without His Blessing amid Trade Buzz

The relationship between Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints continues to feel like an uneasy alliance.

This offseason alone, there have been trade rumors regarding the veteran quarterback and a shoulder injury that might cost him the entirety of the 2025 season.

Those trade talks seemingly shut down after the Saints restructured Carr's deal, but as Albert Breer of SI.com reported, even that came with some controversy.

"The door seemed closed on [a trade] in early March when the Saints converted $28.7 million of his $30 million base salary into a signing bonus (taking his base all the way down to the league minimum). In doing so, it locked New Orleans into paying that money for 2025, meaning if Carr was traded, the Saints would be paying Carr to play for someone else this fall," he wrote. "The move also was made without Carr's blessing, since the Saints had the contractual right to do that (it's common that teams have that conversion lever written into a contract)."

So to summarize: The Saints have a new head coach in Kellen Moore who has never worked with Carr, replacing a head coach in Dennis Allen he had a long history with; there were trade rumors regarding the quarterback throughout the offseason, generally a sign of a potential disconnect; the Saints shut them down by restructuring Carr's deal without consulting him; and now Carr is considering surgery on an injury that wasn't public before a few days ago, with uncertainty on whether the Saints knew the severity of the issue.

Fun times in New Orleans, to say the least.