Four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Derek Carr has found a new home in the NFC South.
Though the Carolina Panthers’ brain trust met with Carr last week, the veteran quarterback decided to sign with division rivals New Orleans on Monday, the Saints announced. Both sides have agreed to a four-year deal, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
The timing of the deal is notable, as Panthers GM Scott Fitterer publicly stated last week that he planned to have a follow-up phone call with Carr on Monday.
“We’re going to talk again,” Fitterer said this past Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “I said we’d catch up, probably Monday of next week. We can talk at any time in between — he’s a free agent. We need to get our questions answered this week and then we will talk again.”
Carr was reportedly seeking upwards of $35 million per year. The Panthers weren’t prepared to meet that reported asking price, according to league sources who spoke with The Observer in Indianapolis.
According to NFL Network, Carr’s deal with the Saints is worth $150 million over four years. Carr will receive $60 million fully guaranteed during the first two years of the deal. He will also receive a no-trade clause and get a $10 million guarantee for 2025 if he is on the roster by March 2024, according to NFL Network.
The Panthers publicly stating their desire to speak with Carr this week could have created some urgency for the Saints, as New Orleans probably didn’t want to lose out on Carr to a divisional rival.
New Orleans was the only squad that spoke with Carr prior to his release by the Las Vegas Raiders in January. The Raiders allowed the Saints to speak with him in a failed attempt to trade the QB for a return value. Instead, Carr declined to waive his no-trade clause and was released.
After meeting with the New York Jets and Panthers, Carr ultimately decided to head to the Saints, who had courted him from the onset of his Raiders departure.
The Panthers will now turn to other options to fill their quarterback void.
The entire leadership group — Fitterer, owners David and Nicole Tepper, head coach Frank Reich, assistant GM Dan Morgan and VP of Football Administration Samir Suleiman — made the trip to the combine to meet with Carr. Fitterer, Reich and Morgan were seen at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday during the quarterback drills.
The Panthers also met with Florida’s Anthony Richardson, Ohio State’s CJ Stroud, Alabama’s Bryce Young, Kentucky’s Will Levis, Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker and TCU’s Max Duggan last week. Richardson, Stroud, Young and Levis are considered the consensus top-four quarterbacks in the draft class.
During quarterback drills, Richardson broke positional records for the vertical and broad jump, while Stroud had a nearly perfect performance in the passing session. Young decided against taking part in field drills, while Levis had a solid overall outing as a passer.
The Panthers own the ninth overall pick in April’s draft. With the Houston Texans (No. 2), Indianapolis Colts (No. 4), Seattle Seahawks (No. 5), Detroit Lions (No. 6), Raiders (No. 7) and Atlanta Falcons (No. 8) all standing in front of Carolina in the QB-needy pecking order, the Panthers will likely need to trade up to land one of the top four rookie prospects at the position.
Along with the draft, the Panthers will look at free agency as an option to solve their long-standing QB conundrum.
Sam Darnold is set to test the market in March, while PJ Walker — who previously played under Reich in Indianapolis — is set to become a restricted free agent. The Panthers only have two quarterbacks under contract: last year’s third-round pick, Matt Corral, and former practice-squad holdover, Jacob Eason.
The Panthers could look to bring back Darnold or Walker or decide to sign an outsider in free agency. Jacoby Brissett, who is coming off a one-year stint with the Cleveland Browns, played under Reich for three seasons in Indianapolis.
Notable names like New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson are expected to be franchise-tagged ahead of Tuesday’s league deadline.
