During his introductory presser as the team’s new head coach, Moore was afforded multiple opportunities to throw support behind the current top passer on the Saints’ depth chart, Derek Carr. Moore was complementary of Carr’s ‘journey’ in the NFL and called him a starter in the league, but he refrained from making a concrete statement enshrining Carr as the Saints’ QB1 off the bat. The Saints are heading into uncharted territory in the first year of the Kellen Moore era and face a tall task of getting under the league’s salary cap while also dealing with aging veteran players across the board. It’s far from the ideal landing spot for a rookie head coach to make his debut, and adding to the pressure is the decision to be made at quarterback. Derek Carr was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL through the first two weeks of the 2024 season, but the wheels quickly fell off as a result of injuries both to Carr himself and the entire Saints team. He’s not set to be an unrestricted free agent until 2027, and the most feasible –though not the most cost-effective – way to move off of Carr would be to cut him and incur $50M in dead cap this offseason. In that event, the Saints would be without an experienced QB heading into year one of Kellen Moore’s term as HC – and with the team sitting at 9th in the draft order this year, it’s unlikely that New Orleans would be within striking distance of any of the top QBs in this year’s draft.