ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. raised eyebrows when he predicted in his latest mock draft that the Saints will pick Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart as the ninth choice of the 2025 NFL Draft even though New Orleans recently restructured the contract for starting QB Derek Carr.
On Friday, ESPN’s Katherine Terrell offered an update that may show why Kiper is now linking Dart with the Saints.
“A source told ESPN that Carr was open to looking elsewhere before the Saints restructured his contract, guaranteeing him $40M in cash this year and tying him to New Orleans for another season,” Terrell explained.
One doesn’t have to be an insider to determine that the relationship between Carr and the Saints has seen better days. He made it known following the 2024 season that he wouldn’t take a pay cut to give New Orleans some needed financial relief. On March 17, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated suggested that new Saints head coach Kellen Moore has some work ahead of him to ensure the organization gets “on the same page with Carr again.”
During an event this past Monday evening, Miami’s Cam Ward revealed that “it would be a dream of [his] to play for” the Saints. While many expect the Tennessee Titans will hold onto the draft’s first pick so they can take Ward, others have hinted the Titans could sell the No. 1 selection for multiple assets to a different team interested in grabbing the consensus top quarterback in this year’s class.
As for Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, ESPN’s Field Yates noted on Friday that the draft’s advertised QB2 “is unlikely to fall out of the top 10-15 picks.” The “10” portion of Yates’ take indicates he thinks Sanders could fall to the Saints.
“If Sanders is available at No. 9,” Jordan Reid said in that ESPN article, “the Saints should consider drafting him. Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart could be an option in the second round, too, though some evaluators believe he could be picked at the back end of Round 1.”
Breer is among those not yet convinced that Dart will “go in the top 50,” but New Orleans could be taking a risk by passing on him at No. 9 if Ward and Sanders are off the board then. Regardless of what happens on April 24, Carr and the Saints seem to be headed toward a breakup.
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