In Review: Derek Carr after one season with Saints

The expectations were high and perhaps a little unrealistic for Derek Carr heading into the 2023 season.

He was positioned and painted as perhaps the missing piece to an otherwise decent to solid team and the one that could get them back to the postseason.

The negatives surrounding Derek Carr were obvious.

He did not elevate the play of teammates.

His offense did not produce touchdowns in the red zone for just over half the season.

The Saints did not score a touchdown on their first possession until week 16.

He called out teammates on the sideline in view of cameras, though that is something we have seen frequently in the heat of NFL battles.

By the standard set in his lengthy career, Carr performed about like we all should have expected him to perform.

There were clear positives.

Carr displayed toughness, playing hurt much of the way, toughing it out for his team.

He played behind an offensive line that was simply not good enough overall and was very leaky, if not poor, in the earlier stages of the season with Trevor Penning struggling, Ryan Ramczyk not the same and the guard play just being average.

He lacked a running back making plays as no one other than Taysom Hill had a run of more than 20 yards on a rushing attempt. Hill had three runs of 20 or more yards while wide receiver Lynn Bowden Jr. had a rush for 29 yards.

Carr had to operate with an obviously less than 100 percent Juwan Johnson much of the way. When Johnson got healthy, he became very productive and the offense improved.

He did not have Alvin Kamara for the first three games and the last game of the season and did not have Kendre Miller for virtually the entire season.

He did not have Michael Thomas for the last seven games.

Carr displayed accuracy.

His arm strength on long out patters and deep balls was obvious and good, overall.

His improvement later in the season was significant. Perhaps it was tied to him being healthier and becoming more comfortable in the offense and with receivers. Later in the season, pass protection was better for Carr, a pure pocket passer. Carr was sacked 31 times and hit on many other occasions.

Given better protection and with better health, in his last four games, Carr was at the top of the league in most statistical categories.

In those games, Carr completed 114-of-154 passes (74%) for 1,117 yards with 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions, with a passer rating of 118.9. That number would have placed Carr No. 1 in the league for the season.

For the season, Carr answered the call, starting all 17 games.

He completed 68.4 percent of his passes (375-of-548) for 3,878 yards with 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Comparing to it to his career numbers, posted in 10 seasons, Carr was actually a little better than those averages, which include 64.9 percent completions, 3,910 yards, 24.2 touchdowns and 10.7 interceptions.

Of course, it was just the third winning season in 10 years for Carr as a starting quarterback in the league, though the Raiders were a dysfunctional franchise.

Can Carr build on what he did in the final part of the 2023 season next year?

Certainly, if the offensive line is more stable, with another solid player emerging.

Clearly, if key players, including Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Johnson, and Hill continue to play at a high level and if A.T. Perry progresses with the promise he showed this season. Definitely, if Kendre Miller can stay healthy and show the burst, quickness, and cutting ability we saw against the Falcons.

Would the Saints be wise to invest in a young quarterback?

Absolutely, if the opportunity presents itself.

Can they get their future star picking 14th in the draft?

That is possible.

Of course, the Saints are famous for trading up to target a player.

Is it worth investing in a quarterback in the first round when you have clear needs for an offensive lineman (or two), a pass rusher, possibly another running back and a safety?

You build through the draft and through drafting good players whom you can control on rookie contracts with the cap issues confronting you.

Since the brilliant 2017 draft which produced Marshon Lattimore, Ramczyk, Marcus Williams, Kamara, Alex Anzalone and Trey Hendrickson, the Saints have simply not drafted well enough overall.

Anzalone is playing well for Detroit while Hendrickson is a star for the Bengals. The Saints made a huge mistake letting him get away.

There are no players remaining from the 2018 draft.

All New Orleans has to show from 2019 is Erik McCoy.

In 2020, Cesar Ruiz was a first-round pick and is a starter but not a star while Zack Baun is decent.

From 2021, Payton Turner has done next to nothing, always hurt, though he did fall on a fumble against the Falcons. Pete Werner is a solid starter, Paulson Adebo looks to be a good pick and Landon Young is a capable reserve.

In 2022, Olave was a good selection, Penning could be a bust, Alontae Taylor has been productive, despite blown coverages against Atlanta and D’Marco Jackson is a solid special teams player.

From 2023, Bryan Bresee shows real promise, Jordan Howden could be a starter and Perry looks to be a good pick. We are waiting to see what Miller, Isaiah Foskey, Nick Saldiveri and Jake Haener can be.

There are some solid players in that mix but that is not good enough to create a championship-caliber team.

Carr is capable of playing well but he is not Drew Brees. No one was going to be.

Carr needs a good supporting cast. That should start with getting better up front.

Carr finished the 2023 season with a Passer Rating of 97.7, which is 10th best in the 32-team league.

With a differential of 18 touchdowns to interceptions (26 touchdowns, eight interceptions), only three NFL quarterbacks had a better ratio (Dak Prescott with 36 touchdowns, nine interceptions, Jordan Love with 32 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and Brock Purdy with 31 touchdowns, 11 interceptions).

C.J. Stroud (23 touchdowns, five interceptions), Russell Wilson (26 touchdowns, eight interceptions), Jared Goff (30 touchdowns, 12 interceptions), Baker Mayfield (28 touchdowns, 10 interceptions) each had the differential of 18 more touchdowns to interceptions that Carr had.

Carr finished 13th in the league in passing yards with 3,878 yards.

Carr was 17th in Quarterback Ratings (QBR) at 56.4. You would certainly like that to be a little better.

Factually, Carr is not the reason the Saints missed the playoffs.

The Saints opened the season 2-0.

In the season opening 16-15 win over Tennessee, Carr completed 23-of-35 passes for 305 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

After a win at Carolina, Carr went down injured in the third quarter at Green Bay with the Saints holding a 17-0 lead.

When he went down, Carr was 13-of-18 for 103 yards and a touchdown, playing well with a quarterback rating of 104.6.

New Orleans did not score again with Jameis Winston at quarterback, losing 18-17 after Blake Grupe missed a 46-yard field goal.

Had Carr stayed in that game, the chances were strong that the Saints would have scored in some fashion again and won the game.

Green Bay is in the playoff and the Saints are not because of that game. Tampa Bay won the NFC South and the Saints lost it because of that game.

That was the first injury for Carr, an AC joint sprain.

Against Jacksonville, Carr made a perfect throw to Foster Moreau, who simply dropped a sure touchdown pass in the end zone which would have tied the game and likely produced overtime. That was clearly not on Carr.

In a week 10 loss at Minnesota, Carr reinjured his shoulder and suffered concussion symptoms.

In week 13, Carr had concussion, back and shoulder injury issues.

The question perisists.

Would the Saints have been better with a healthy Jameis Winston when Carr was considerably less than 100 percent?

Clearly, Dennis Allen and Pete Carmichael felt otherwise.

The bottom line?

Carr was not as bad as some made him out to be.

While he incurred boos and it had to be hard for him to endure, fans were expressing their feelings, their given right, largely based on the money Carr received from the Saints.

Carr did not perform up to the contract he was given, at least based on the expectations of some.

Does his performance in year one reflect failure or success?

The truth lies somewhere in between, exactly where the New Orleans Saints find themselves among the NFL’s 32 teams, in between the very good teams and the below average teams.

Carr was very good in the final month of the season. He was competent, even solid overall. He remains the best option at the most important position on the current roster.

Here’s hoping that carries over.