Saints replace Derek Carr in ESPN’s year-away NFL mock draft

There’s no question about Derek Carr’s status with the New Orleans Saints in 2024 — he’s their starting quarterback, full stop. Spencer Rattler may have arrived with a lot of momentum after falling to the Saints in this year’s NFL draft, but if spring practices are anything to go off of he has a lot of ground to make up just in pushing Carr’s backup Jake Haener.

But what about 2025? It’s tough to say anything with certainty a year in advance, but a rough season and a prime draft pick could mean the end of the road for Carr in New Orleans. The opportunity to draft an exciting young quarterback might be too tempting to pass up.

In this way-too-early 2025 mock draft from ESPN’s Matt Miller , the Saints were projected to not just be picking tenth overall, but to use that tenth pick on a new quarterback. Here’s his case for the Saints drafting Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers:

The 2024 season will be crucial for the future of starting quarterback Derek Carr in New Orleans and perhaps provide a window into what the team has in rookie fifth-rounder Spencer Rattler . At this time, it doesn’t appear that either quarterback is the future here. Ewers has talent worthy of a first-overall pick heading into his third season as a starter at Texas. At 21 years old, he has to cut down on poor decisions during games, but his accuracy, mobility and arm strength are that of a future NFL starter. Ewers threw for 3,479 yards and 22 touchdown passes last season.

Ewers might take a big step forward and earn a high draft pick in 2025, and it’s very possible the Saints would draft him if given the chance. It would be tough for them to pass on a quarterback if they’re picking tenth overall next year, given the implication that they were given that draft slot for having been so unsuccessful in 2024.

If the Saints are that bad this year it’ll be because Carr was a poor fit in Klint Kubiak’s offense, or that Dennis Allen lost too many winnable games again, or both. Would Mickey Loomis give Allen another chance after missing the playoffs three years in a row? Maybe. They might rationalize the lack of success as Kubiak needing more time to install his offense, but that would be a mistake. Allen has been given every resource and opportunity to win the NFL’s weakest division and he’s continued to come up short. If the Saints collapse and end up picking tenth in 2025, there’s no way Loomis can sell fans on Allen being the coach to make that pick. Hopefully Carr excels in Kubiak’s system and the Saints are focused on playoff seeding, not draft position, later this season.

More 2025 NFL draft!