The New Orleans Saints made a big splash during the 2023 NFL offseason, signing veteran quarterback Derek Carr. Expectations quickly rose as many people picked them to win the NFC South. Unfortunately, they fell short of those expectations.
The Saints went 9-8, losing the division title on a tiebreaker to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Some of the blame for that shortcoming was placed on Derek Carr. People questioned whether the team made the right decision pursuing him as their starting quarterback and have put him on notice heading into 2024.
However, Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated has opted to go in the other direction. He doesn’t think Derek Carr is overrated; he is on the opposite end of the spectrum and believes he is actually underrated. In a recent piece, he shared his opinion on who the underrated player on every team in the NFC is.
For the Saints, he selected Derek Carr, which he knows will draw some negative reactions from people. “This will perhaps be my most controversial take here. I did point out some of Carr’s issues last season, including what seemed like a disinterest in playing defense after a pick and some deflections at the podium.
But I do wonder how much of that was Carr feeling unseen by the offense. I know opinions on Carr across the league are scattered, but it’s important to note that a down year for Carr still means 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions (also that there seems to be a growing body of evidence that a Sean Payton offense isn’t w.