There is no position more important to the Saints playoff chances than the quarterback. The dream scenario for any team is to have an elite level performing quarterback on a rookie contract. However, having a franchise quarterback who has earned a huge new contract isn’t such a bad spot for an organization to be in either. The worst scenario for an NFL team is to be desperate enough that they hand out a large contract to a quarterback whose productions doesn’t necessarily equate to the number they received.
Below is the list of the top-5 worst current QB contracts in the NFL.
To calculate the most overpaid quarterbacks in the NFL, I used overthecap.com to find the player’s total career earnings through the 2022 season and their current contract average per year (APY). I also used Pro-Football-Reference.com to find the player’s total career touchdown number and their touchdown average in career starts. For each of the 14 QBs currently making $30M+ APY, I calculated their average earnings per career touchdown and estimated earnings per touchdown for the 2023 season.
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Saints' Might Regret Carr's Contract
Surprisingly, Derek Carr received a 4-year, $150 million contract from the New Orleans Saints this offseason after being released by the Raiders. Unsurprisingly, this has landed Carr in the #2 spot on my list of most overrated QB contracts this season. Did New Orleans overpay Carr?
- Carr had a losing season in seven of nine years, zero playoff wins, and he threw for 30+ touchdowns in a season just one time in his career (2015).
- In 2022, Carr had his worst season statistically since his 2014 rookie year and the Raiders finally decided it was best to move on from him.
- Carr has averaged just 1.6 touchdowns per start over his nine career seasons, which ranks 13th out of the top-14 highest paid quarterbacks, better than only Giants’ QB Daniel Jones. To compare just how bad Carr has been in the touchdown department: he and Vikings QB Kirk Cousins both rank top-5 in pass attempts since 2017… but Cousins has 44 more passing touchdowns than Carr over that span.
- Using Carr’s new contract APY of $37.5 million and his 1.6 average touchdowns per career start, he is estimated to earn $1.4 million per touchdown scored in 2023. That is approximately $400,000 more per touchdown than the estimated amount that 2-time NFL MVP winner and 2-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes will receive next season.
Seems clear to me. The Saints way overpaid for an aging, average (at best) quarterback.
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