New Orleans Saints DVOA, Stats, & NFL Rankings

The New Orleans Saints agreed to terms on an undisclosed one-year deal to re-sign wide receiver Dante Pettis on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Pettis began the 2024 season with the Chicago Bears before being released in September with an injury settlement. He eventually latched onto the Saints' practice squad before becoming a part of their offense late in the season. The 29-year-old finished his sixth year in the NFL with 12 receptions on 28 targets for just 120 yards and one touchdown in eight starts. The former second-round pick (44th overall) by the San Francisco 49ers in 2018 out of the University of Washington had his best season in his rookie year, when he had 27 catches for 467 yards and five touchdowns on 45 targets in 12 games (seven starts). Pettis will look for a bigger role in his first full season in New Orleans but will most likely have a small role behind Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed.

The New Orleans Saints re-signed tight end Juwan Johnson to a three-year deal worth over $30 million, sources tell FOX Sports' Jordan Schultz. Johnson was one of the top tight ends available on the open market this offseason and will return to the Saints after a career-best 50-548-3 line in 17 games (five starts) in his fifth year in the league in 2024. The 28-year-old can make as much as $34.5 million and will receive $21.25 million guaranteed. Even though Johnson had a career year with the Saints last year, he finished as the TE17 in half-point PPR scoring. The good news is that Johnson will return to the only team he's played for in his five NFL seasons and will continue working with veteran quarterback Derek Carr in new head coach Kellen Moore's system. The bad news is that Johnson will likely continue to be inconsistent from a fantasy perspective on a weekly basis as a TE2.

Per NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, the New Orleans Saints are expected to convert most of quarterback Derek Carr's 2025 compensation into a signing bonus for salary cap purposes. According to Garafolo, Carr is lined up to receive all $40 million owed to him. It's a sure sign that New Orleans intends to keep the veteran on as their full-time QB this coming season. The 33-year-old appeared in just ten contests in 2024 while dealing with abdomen and hand injuries and failed to toss more than 20 passing touchdowns for the first time since 2018. However, he'll return as the Saints' signal-caller for the third straight season. He's proven to be a viable QB2/streaming option in the right matchup. Still, the team will need to surround the Fresno State product with a more feasible arsenal of weapons for fantasy managers to comfortably slot him into their lineups every week.

New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said on Wednesday at the NFL Combine that the team feels like they can win with quarterback Derek Carr, and new head coach Kellen Moore also said the team feels fortunate to have Carr on the roster. The Saints still have contract stuff to figure out with Carr, but as things currently stand, it sounds like the team plans on bringing the 33-year-old veteran back in 2025. Carr has a $51.4 million cap hit in 2025, and the Saints currently have the worst cap situation in the NFL, so something has to give. Restructuring his contract could free up $31 million this year, although it would push his cap hit to around $69 million in 2026. Carr played in a career-low 10 games in 2024 due to a broken hand and a concussion. Even with Moore in town, fantasy managers in 12-team, one-QB leagues are going to be avoiding him in drafts this fall.

Although reports to this point suggest that the New Orleans Saints will keep quarterback Derek Carr around in new head coach Kellen Moore's first season in 2025, The Athletic's Amos Morale III also points out that Carr is the most obvious cut candidate as well. Moore was non-committal about Carr's future during his introductory press conference, and the Saints are roughly $51 million over the projected 2025 salary cap. Cutting the veteran signal-caller would add to the team's league-leading dead-money total, according to Spotrac, but the Saints have a lot of those contracts coming off the books in 2026. If Moore and his coaching staff decide to stick with Carr, they will at the very least need to restructure his deal. The 33-year-old dealt with more injuries in 2024 and played in a career-low 10 games. Carr has become a pretty big injury risk and will carry a $30 million base salary and $10 million roster bonus in 2025.