Vikings NFC Rivals Land Top Free Agent QB
Josh Frey
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The first free agent quarterback has officially come off the board before free agency even truly begins. A couple weeks ago, the Las Vegas Raiders announced that they would be releasing their Pro Bowl QB Derek Carr after nine seasons. This opened the door for Carr to explore other options, and it seems that one of the Vikings NFC rivals has landed him, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
That team, as the above tweet states, is the New Orleans Saints. The move was later confirmed by Carr himself when he sent out this tweet:
The Vikings and Saints have had bad blood between the two sides since the 2009 NFC Championship Game when New Orleans defeated Minnesota in overtime to make the Super Bowl. They would go on to defeat the Colts, winning their first and only Lombardi Trophy.
Since then, the two sides have faced off twice in the playoffs–2017 and 2019–with Minnesota coming out on top in heroic fashion both times. Most recently, the two teams faced off in London during Week 4 of the 2022 season when the Vikings won 28-25 after Wil Lutz double-doinked a 61-yard field goal to potentially tie the game and send it to overtime.
The Saints finished the 2022 season with a 7-10 record, narrowly missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Now, they turn to a 31-year-old Carr to try and revitalize an offense that scored just 19.4 points per game last season.
Carr is a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback who certainly is one of the better starters at the position in the league. In an NFC South division that was won by an 8-9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers team in 2022 and doesn’t look much better heading into 2023, this move could put the Saints at the top of the division.
The only question mark for New Orleans here is how much they will pay Carr. Currently, New Orleans is around $18 million over the salary cap for 2023, and that is after making a number of moves to free up cap space via restructures.
In 2023, the Saints and Vikings aren’t scheduled to meet in the regular season, so the only time the two teams could meet would be their third playoff meeting in the past eight seasons.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.