New Orleans Saints: Team shredded over free agency decision that smacks of ‘roster mismanagement’

The New Orleans Saints’ decision to sign Derek Carr has been rated as one of the worst moves during free agency by Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr.‘
The New Orleans Saints have struggled to find a long-term answer at quarterback ever since Drew Brees retired from the sport at the end of the 2020 NFL season. Guys like Andy Dalton, Jameis Winston and even Taysom Hill have been seen as options and been given their chances, but none of them came close to giving the team what Brees did.
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Their latest attempt will be Derek Carr, who despite looking as though he was going to be signing with the New York Jets this offseason, instead went south to join the Saints in a deal worth $150m over four years, with $100m of it being guaranteed.
Carr has been seen as a steady option at quarterback in the NFL, with an average production of 64.6% pass completion, 3,913.5 yards per season, 24.1 touchdowns and had 11 interceptions, so not quite the best in the league, but certainly far from the worst.
However, his production, combined with what he is being paid, hasn’t sat well with Conor Orr.
New Orleans Saints still not getting it right with Derek Carr?
Writing in a Q&A session for SI.com, Orr, among the other writers, were asked which free-agent signing they liked the least so far, and Orr pointed out that the money the Saints were paying for Carr, alongside the fact the team has a few other needs to take care of, made this one of the worst decisions in free agency:
Derek Carr to the Saints. I got flack for saying this last year, but they have not given up on the idea that this team is one step from contention. And while that’s admirable, to commit yourself for what is essentially three years and $100 million to a quarterback with one postseason start—and a 53.7% completion rate in said start—seems like quadrupling down on the same kind of roster mismanagement that made Sean Payton hit the eject button two years ago.
New Orleans Saints need more new faces?
When you look at this Saints team, Orr does make a good point when it comes to being more than one step away. Having ranked 22nd in yards and 19th in points last year (per Pro Football Reference), one quarterback isn’t going to make the whole thing better.
There needs to be better weapons (only two players had over 500 recieving yards last season), more protection added after giving up 38 sacks last season, a better running game that relies on more than Alvin Kamara if they’re to take their game forward.
The only question now is whether or not they’ll have anything left after paying Carr to make the moves during the rest of free agency, or if they’ll have to attack it in the draft and hope that unproven players can make the jump from college to pro.