Derek Carr is taking his time in selecting his new team, but the New Orleans Saints appear to be ready for him to hurry up and sign on the dotted line. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler shared some insight on that front during a Wednesday interview with Jets 360’s Eric Allen.
Fowler said of the Saints’ ongoing talks with Carr: “My understanding is they want to get something done with Derek Carr, like they’re ready to do that. So he has options. I get the sense he’s just waiting it out patiently so that second team can get heavily involved along with the Saints, and then you have more leverage. It kind of helps him to wait a little bit in that way.”
The New York Jets are the other team showing the most interest in Carr, but they’re waiting on Aaron Rodgers to descend from whichever mountain he’s summitted for a bit of self-reflection and choose whether to accept a trade to the New Jersey metro after spending his career in small-town Green Bay. If Rodgers isn’t willing to play ball, the Jets suddenly pick up the pace of negotiations with Carr, and he’s hoping to play them against the Saints to get the best deal for himself.
It’s frustrating, but that’s the time of the year on the NFL calendar. Private meetings and dinners and conversations are raging in Indianapolis as agents, coaches, and executives from all across the league’s landscape converge for the NFL Scouting Combine, and Carr’s path forward is a subplot full of intrigue. You’d like to resolve this quickly, and so would the Saints, but it’s in Carr’s interest to hold out as long as he can before putting pen to paper.
