Over the last two seasons, the team that I’ve most frequently covered and cited on this site and on the Walterfootball.com podcast, has been the New Orleans Saints. That’s because their approach to managing the NFL salary cap proves our thesis that the salary cap is virtually useless.

And the most notable contracts that we’ve highlighted are the restructurings of their contracts with Derek Carr.

Now, with Carr abruptly retiring, I’ve been asked multiple times on social media: “How does this impact the Saints salary cap situation?”

I think that’s a very valuable question to address. But first, let’s address one media rumor: Did Carr willingly give up a bunch of money? No!

 

Carr Did Not Willingly Give Up $30 Million

I’ve seen a lot of people on social media claiming that Derek Carr willingly walked away from $30 million. One USA Today writer even said that this was “big of Derek Carr.”

But this take is incredibly naive. While it does potentially appear Carr was the magnanimous party here, upon further examination, we see that’s not actually the truth.

Instead of a retiring, Carr could have opted for another significant surgery. In that case the Saints would have been forced to place him on season-long IR. Carr would not have played in the 2025 season, and yet he still would have collected $40 million ($10 million roster bonus, $28.745 million signing bonus, and $1.255 million of base salary).

By retiring, Carr will still get the $10 million roster bonus (that bonus was actually already paid to him in March). But he’ll forgo the rest of the money he was originally slated to get.

But, let’s get real! Players don’t just walk away from $30 million willingly. None of them are that altruistic.

 

The Real Deal: Carr Potentially Tried to Pull a Fast One

In March, the Saints and Derek Carr restructured his contract. This saved the Saints apx. $31 million in cap space in 2025.

However, if the Saints had known about the true state of Carr’s shoulder injury, they would have considered cutting Carr and may have been able to negotiate an injury settlement, potentially avoiding having to pay Carr the $10 million roster bonus.

It came as a surprise to the Saints’ leadership (and the NFL community) that Carr’s shoulder was in worse shape than what was originally anticipated. But Carr likely knew all along. Some league sources believe Carr was not forthcoming about how his recovery was going.

According to former NFL player and current analyst Ross Tucker, if Carr indeed had opted for the surgery and landed on IR, the Saints were likely going to file a grievance with the league, and some league sources seem to think that the Saints would’ve prevailed.

One NFL scout said to me, “Carr tried to do them dirty!”

Is it possible that Carr made an honest mistake? Is it possible that in March he genuinely thought he’d be fine by OTAs? Well, yes, I guess it’s possible that this was an honest mistake. But it sure feels convenient, doesn’t it?

I’ve chronicled how the NFL owners have tried to swindle players in the past, with ruthless option clauses (1963–1976) and with unethical manipulation of the NFL salary floor (1994–2009); therefore, it’s fair and righteous for me to highlight whenever it appears to me (and to others) that maybe a player has sought to do the same.

 

Amicable Separation Pay Dividends

Instead of a legal squabble, the Saints and Carr agreed that Carr would retire (officially) on June 1 and they would, in essence, undo the restructured contract from two months ago. As part of this agreement, the Saints agreed Carr could keep the $10 million roster bonus from March and the Saints now save $30 million in real dollars this season. Tucker called this a “short term financial marriage.”

With the current situation, the Saints may have had the right to go after that $10 million from Carr, but the amicable separation seems to be appealing to both sides. Tucker believes that it’s possible Carr will rehab on his own, as a retired player, and then could consider making a comeback in 2026.

This agreement is not primarily about salary cap savings for the Saints, this is about real dollars—thirty million of them to be exact!

 

Actual 2025 Salary Cap Impact

The Saints originally signed Carr to a four-year, $150 million deal. In the two years since the deal, they’ve restructured the contract twice, first in March 2024 and then again in March 2025.

Through the first two years of the contract, Carr was paid a total of $59.99 million.

However, because of the various salary cap mechanisms (loopholes), only $19.868 million of that money has actually been counted against the NFL salary cap.

 

 

Then, in March 2025, the Saints paid Carr the aforementioned $10 million roster bonus—which they certainly regret at this point. This bonus is the money that the Saints have chosen not to go after, since Carr agreed to retire in lieu of getting himself landed on season-long IR.

Through March 2025 the Saints paid Carr a grand total of $69.99 million.

 

Carr’s Dead Money

Since only a total of $19.868 million of Carr’s compensation has ever been allocated (charged) against the Saints’ salary cap, there’s a total of $50.122 million outstanding ($69.99 million minus $19.868 million); that’s the “dead money” amount that must still be allocated against the salary cap at some point. Every single penny ever paid to any NFL player must, eventually, be charged against the cap.

Dead money is not money that they’ll still be paying to Carr after he’s gone; dead money is merely the money that they’ve already paid to Carr, in the past, but have never officially allocated against the NFL salary cap in the previous seasons.

If the retirement papers were to be processed immediately—before June 1—then the total sum of $50.122 million would count as dead money against the 2025 salary cap.

However, the Saints and Carr will process the retirement papers on (or after) June 1, which will allow the Saints to spread-out the dead money cap hit over two seasons; it’s likely that $14.5 million of the dead money will count against the 2025 salary cap and the rest, $35.622 million, will count against the salary cap in 2026.

There’s no doubt that a dead money cap hit of $35.622 million will be a lot. But consider this, the Eagles took a $33.8 million dead money cap hit in 2021 when they traded Carson Wentz to the Colts. When we consider the inflation of the last four seasons (both in the NFL and society broadly), the sum of $35.622 million in 2026 doesn’t seem nearly as bad.

The final financials of Carr’s tenure with the Saints ends up looking like this:

 

 

Big Win for the Saints

In some ways, this is a major positive for the Saints. Not only do they save the $30 million in 2025, but the Saints now get out from under this bad contract altogether.

The original deal was for $150 million over four years, but after two years, they’ve only paid out $69.99 million of that money, which is only 46.6% of the original total of monies committed.

In addition, many of us anticipate that this team could be bad in 2025. They’ll likely have a high draft pick in the 2026 NFL draft—maybe even the #1 draft pick. If so, they’ll have a chance to draft a generational talent like Arch Manning.

When all things are considered, this is (sort of) the best case scenario for the Saints. Well, actually, the best case scenario would’ve been for them to never offer a big money deal to such a mediocre quarterback like Derek Carr. But the manner in which this has unfolded is quite advantageous for the Saints.