Cost of commitment to Derek Carr may not be worthwhile for Saints

I present to you a couple of quarterbacks and their numbers in 2022.

The first: 66.7 completion percentage. 7.6 yards per attempt. 18 touchdown passes, 9 interceptions, and a rating of 95.2.

The second: 60.8 completion percentage, 7.0 yards per attempt, 24 TD passes, 14 interceptions, and a rating of 86.3.

The first numbers belong to Andy Dalton. The second belong to Derek Carr.

It doesn’t take long to understand which quarterback has better value.

Do you re-sign Dalton, who earned $3 million last season, or do you hitch your wagon to Carr, who is slated to make a whopping $32.9 million next season?

If you are the New Orleans Saints, it is a classic case of buyer beware.

If the Saints could acquire Derek Carr for a greatly reduced price, in free agency, with no draft pick as compensation attached, then it might be a deal worth doing.

Giving a third round pick to the Raiders and picking up anything close to his current deal would just be bad business.

I have tried to get excited about the possibility of Carr joining the Saints. He’s a solid individual. The Raiders all-time leader in passing yards and touchdown passes also has a career record of 63-79 as a starter.

Yes, Carr has played for a dysfunctional franchise. I get it.

Yet, last season, his numbers were not very good, despite the fact that he had a far better supporting cast than Dalton had with the Saints.

Davante Adams caught 100 passes and made big plays. Running back Josh Jacobs rushed for 1,653 yards. Any way you cut it, both of those guys are studs.

If there is one Raider the Saints should pursue in free agency, it is Jacobs. He’s a dynamite back. With Alvin Kamara still in a legal malaise over an incident in Las Vegas a year ago, New Orleans desperately needs a running back who can make big plays.

How much did the Raiders value Jacobs? They failed to pick up the fifth year option on his rookie contract, making him a free agent. That should tell you everything you need to know about them.

When you are searching for that next Drew Brees, you try to convince yourself of some things. The Saints are probably saying something like the following:

We are in a bad division. If we get Carr, and have a good draft, with the pieces we have in place, we could win the NFC South.

All of that could be true. Winning the NFC South would certainly secure Dennis Allen’s job for another season.

But, to quote the late Saints general manager Jim Finks, “Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.”

In 1990, with Bobby Hebert holding out, Finks reached by trading 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd round picks to Dallas for backup quarterback Steve Walsh.

Finks was a Hall of Fame general manager and leader who made a very bad deal. Walsh was eventually cut in the spring of 1994.

Even though a deal for Carr would be nowhere near that costly in picks, the Saints should not commit millions (upon millions) of dollars to a quarterback who is looking for a new home for very good reasons.