Takeaways from Derek Carr's First Saints Press Conference

Derek Carr made an incredible first impression on everyone during his introductory Saints press conference.

Derek Carr was officially introduced on Saturday as the new Saints quarterback, as he sat alongside head coach Dennis Allen for nearly 45 minutes. New Orleans had many of their front office, personnel, and friends and family of Carr in attendance. Carr's wife Heather and their four children were right on the front row to watch it all go down. General manager Mickey Loomis and owner Gayle Benson were also on-hand for the introduction.

Mar 11, 2023; Metairie, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen and chief executive officer Gayle Benson and quarterback Derek Carr and general manager Mickey Loomis pose at Ochsner Sports Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The Saints quarterback made a great first impression on the local media in attendance, to say the very least. He seems reinvigorated with this opportunity, and there's a lot of common themes he hit on during his interview that should resonate well with New Orleans. Here's some of the biggest takeaways from Carr and head coach Dennis Allen.

Derek Carr Notes and Quotes

COLLECTIVE INPUT: Derek Carr says he sent Drew Brees a text while he was in Mexico at the time. Brees called him and answered all of the questions around the organization. "A lot of what he said is probably why I'm sitting here today," Carr said. He mentioned that he has a lot of respect for Brees, but it wasn't just him who gave him input. Payton Manning and Archie Manning both talked to Carr, giving him good advice to help him make his next move.

Carr also said, “I’m not coming here trying to be Drew Brees. That man is a Hall of Fame quarterback. I’m coming here to be Derek Carr.”

TRADE COULD HAVE HAPPENED: Carr said he was very willing to accept a trade, but he was only allowed to talk to one team. He said that he didn't want to make that decision when it's the only time in his career that he could possibly be free. For what it's worth, Carr mentioned that he did come close to making that choice. Carr mentioned that it was very important that the Saints were the first team to reach out. He said they were very honest and clear and that they showed value without showing value in that.

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CHALLENGES OF LAST SEASON AND NEW LIFE: “It's hard because I love so many people there. At the same time, it's a breath of fresh air because I get to reinvent myself. I get to build a work ethic and all those kinds of things. I just get to come in and show my work ethic and really prove it here. I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t have a chip on my shoulder with how everything finished. I didn't plan on or dream of it finishing that way. That’s for sure. I was told why, and I understood the business side of why certain things were happening. I get it. But, for me as a competitor, I want to finish with my teammates and all stuff. It lit a fire in me that I've always had. But it just made it hotter, and it gave me this excitement to where I can’t wait to get to another building and show just what I’m capable of and just what I can do. It's a little bittersweet because of all the people that I love there, that I have relationships with there, but also very exciting to kind of come try and prove yourself again here.”

HEALTH AND WORK ETHIC: Carr said that he feels like he's 21 and not 31, and of course he will turn 32 at the end of March. He mentioned more than a few times the importance of getting in the work, stressing starting in OTAs and being in the building. Needless to say, he preached a strong work ethic. "My big thing was not just trying to get ready for Sunday's. I'm trying to get ready for Wednesday. You know, I just want to make sure I feel great so my practices are at the highest level they can be, not just feel good by Sunday."

HERE TO HELP LEAD: Carr said specifically that he wants to provide leadership and not take over. "How do I add value? Be a blessing, not a burden to anybody in this building." He wants to provide leadership and not take over. He mentioned that one of the things that was most important to him in choosing the Saints was the character in the room. He singled out Cam Jordan, Demario Davis, Tyrann Mathieu, Taysom Hill, and Alvin Kamara, saying that he wanted to do it all with them.

Carr brought up the game against the Saints in which the Raiders 'got their tail kicked'. "You could feel the physicality that they played with. You could feel the energy, the brotherhood. You could feel those things."

MICHAEL THOMAS PRAISE: Carr spoke with Michael Thomas before getting here, and said that the first time he talked to him that Thomas didn't want to get off the phone. He it was a big part of the process, but talked about getting to work. Those two got close in the process of talking, and it's now no longer a coincidence of what Thomas tweeted out following the signing.

Carr told Mickey Loomis, "You talk to Mike Thomas and you feel like you two can go out and face the world." He added that he loves this guy and that he's so competitive."

"I told my wife when I got off the phone, and she was like, ‘Why are you smiling?’ And I was like, ‘I love this guy!’ He’s so competitive. Just the energy that he brings, it would be very exciting times to throw him the football. When he started recruiting and talking to me, he wasn’t even trying to recruit me, he was just like, ‘When are we getting to work, we’re wasting time, time is ticking.’ I was like, dude, I’m the same way. We’ll get there. But I think that our relationship has grown through the process, and I’m looking forward to hopefully making that relationship grow even stronger."

THE FREE AGENCY JOURNEY: "Me and Tim (Younger, Agent), we could definitely write a book, that's for sure. But at some point, and me and Mickey (Loomis) talked about this, you got so many details, literally every detail you're picking apart. And finally at some point you're just like, "I can't wait for this it to be done. I just want to find a place to call home." 

"And doing that while we were trying to be respectful of other teams that maybe had a later start and these kinds of things. Because I wanted to make sure that when I sat... when I dreamed of this moment, there's no doubt or any question in my mind. you know, like when I sat here, I know that I can give this shield everything that I possibly have. And not be like, "Well what would that have been like and what could that have been like?" We got every answer. Every question I had, (Tim) gave me every answer. And I had a lot of questions sometimes too late at night, He was very vital in helping me get to the point where I could sit here. And DA even said, "You need to go through the process." You know, Coach (Robert) Saleh in New York, "You need to go through the process." And I appreciated that. Because they were like, "You're going to get all the questions so that when you get to sit down and make the decision you know." Like, "I'm a Saint". That's it. I don't have anything in my heart anywhere else. I'll always have love where I was, but I'm here now."

ON THE SAINTS WEAPONS LIKE KAMARA, SHAHEED, OLAVE: "Explosive, very explosive. Very competitive. You know, I'm really excited to have all those guys run down the field and just check one one down to Alvin just to see what he can do. That'll be fun. I'm excited to watch Taysom run the football, have the ball in his hands. I'm excited to watch those guys run down the field. With their speed and athleticism. You know, Juwan (Johnson). The athleticism that he has a tight end and the way he can move. There's just so much potential, but that doesn't mean anything. So you make a decision based on what you think it can be, but then you've got to go make it that. When you watch them on film though, it's hard not to get excited. For Saints fans, it's hard not to be excited about the roster and what Mickey and DA have put together here. It's exciting."

MICHAEL JORDAN CHANGED HIM, KOBE BRYANT WAS HIS FAVORITE: Carr was praised for his ability to finish games, and he was asked about why he's so good at it.

"As a kid, my favorite player was Kobe Bryant. I was telling my kids — they do it now — I would run around in the front yard on our little basketball hoop on our slanted driveway, counting down 3, 2, 1, missing a lot of them before I started making them. I started doing that and it was because the first one I ever saw was Michael Jordan in ’97 against the Jazz, hit the crossover — I think it was ’97, ’98 — hit the shot at the top of the key, and it just did something to me. I was this kid’s age. I just remember watching that, like I want to do that. There was something in me, though. Then, when I was in college, man, I hope to have one of those in the NFL. Like one moment. And now we’ve got so many moments like that it’s been really cool because I remember being their age dreaming. Now being able to do them at this level is stuff that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It’s really cool.'

THE NEW ORLEANS IMPACT: “We got picked up from the hotel today. We're driving right past the Superdome, driving past all the little shops, and driving on Airline, and you look. And I, I kind of thought like, man, it'd be so awesome to win for the city. It'd be so awesome to win for these people." 

“I’ve got learn. Everybody's saying words to me and I’m like, ‘What does that mean? I’m from Oakland and Las Vegas. But we're learning. It almost feels like that college feeling, like the whole city here, they're in it with you, you know? The city has been unbelievable to my family so far. We've literally been just blown away. And hopefully we can win for them and make more fun times. I can’t promise wins, but I can promise you a great effort. So I'm excited to go out there and compete as hard as I can with my teammates and hopefully give 'em what they want."

Dennis Allen Quotes

THOUGHTS ON CARR JOINING THE SAINTS: "Honestly it's an exciting time for us as an organization. I'm sure exciting for Derek and his family. Before we really kind of get going, I do want to make sure that everybody knows that Derek is a much quicker decision maker on the field than he is off the field. He took way too long with the process. But we're obviously happy that we have him. I was fortunate enough to be with the Raiders when we drafted him in the second round and have always admired the type of person that he is as well as the type of player that he is. And so, it's been outstanding just to watch him grow both as an individual and as a player. We're excited about having him as our quarterback."

It's no secret, and if you've been following us on this, Carr was the top target for the Saints. Allen said the team wanted to be respectful to help him make the right decision.

THE PROCESS OF CARR JOINING: "We were just talking in the cafeteria a few minutes ago about how that process went. You want to make sure. Because we were the first ones to reach out, we were the first ones to show interest, and obviously Derek was the guy that I knew, but when our personnel people watched the tape and the coaches watched the tape, he was clearly our No. 1 target in terms of what we wanted to do at the quarterback position. We wanted to be first out there and just make sure that he knew he was the No. 1 option. Then, as we went through the process and he came here and visited, as the days were going on, you wanted to be respectful and allow him the opportunity to gather all the information he needs to make the right decision, and yet you don’t ever want to get too far from the forefront of his mind. But I’ll be honest with you, I really felt like — and I think we all felt like — we had a chance to sit down and visit with Derek, and he told us what was really important, and what was really important to him was winning and trying to win a championship."

ON ORGANIZATION SELLING ITSELF: "Well, it's easy to sell the truth. I think what we've been able to accomplish here since I came back, I think all that kind of sells itself because it's the truth. We've been one of the most successful organizations in the National Football league over the last seven or eight years. We're going to continue to be that. I think this is a step in the right direction to getting back to where we feel like we should be."

ON WHAT'S NEXT FOR TEAM: "I think first and foremost, we're trying to see what we can do within our own building, in terms of trying to get some of our guys. That would be Option A. We'll see what's out there in terms of the market. I don't see us going out in the first day or two of free agency and having some big splash acquisition. I think we'll do what we've always done here. We'll kind of monitor the market and see what players fit what we want to do and how we want to do things and if there's a good fit there, we'll pull the trigger on it. And if not, we'll go through the draft process and let that play out. But yet, in our mind, this was a big domino to fall and everything else falls into place after that."

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