Rewind back to the 2023 season, and Derek Carr was the talk of the town, the new, veteran QB that would help drive the Saints back to the postseason.
That didn't happen. Several things were more difficult than anticipated, with Carr arriving as an outsider trying to get on the same page with players who already knew the system. Things like moving to a new city, relocating his family and all the things that went along with that proved a bigger challenge than he'd realized.
"I guess that’s why I’m the most excited because I feel like myself more now than I did probably 12 months ago,” Carr said.
Going beyond that, the work on the field has a similar feel. With the Saints opting to change offensive systems entirely and hire Klint Kubiak, his challenges are now everyone's challenges, and that means they can attack things together.
Speaking to the media following the first practice of organized team activities, Carr hit on exactly that and why he expects more even-keeled results.
"The cool part about this is we’re all starting over and I’ve felt more of that leadership, that coaching role now, and so that excitement of 'nah, it’s like this' and ... when you do something together, that brotherhood and that unity, it gets even tighter," Carr said.
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One early challenge is an emphasis of the new scheme, and that's speed. Not necessarily straight line speed, although that's certainly helpful, but operational speed. Play calls have fewer words, things can get communicated more quickly, players need to be able to think faster and play faster. It's a work in progress, and that work includes the fitness level that pace will require.
"I threw two of the worst out routes of my life because I was so tired," Carr said. "They’re trying to kick our butt and make it hard in that moment so that when you get to team it’s like, oh my gosh, I feel great, and so we’re just trying to stress that to where the games are, again, where we want it to be.”
That point was echoed by center Erik McCoy, with the OL requirement in a wide zone running scheme meaning athleticism and fitness will be more of a distinguishing factor in year's past. The fortunate thing is the Saints have something of a youth and athleticism movement along the OL, with all five members of the group that lined up with the first team at OTAs age 27 or younger, including rookie Taliese Fuaga at left tackle.
"It’s really something that we just need to come out and replicate every day. Like, it can’t just be good one day," McCoy said. "It’s got to be good every day that we come out, every rep that we come out, yea, for the pace that the offense needs to roll at.”
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There's no mistaking the success that Kubiak's wide zone scheme has had across the NFL, with every individual coach having their own spin on it. Kubiak himself led the Vikings in that offense in 2021, but whether it's Kyle Shanahan with the 49ers, Mike McDaniel with the Dolphins, Sean McVay with the Rams, the list goes on, it's not difficult to see the impact and struggle it creates for defenses. But why is that?
“Everything looks the same to the defense," Carr said, "and the coaches do a great job of making sure, hey, run, play action, pass, screen, everything looks the same and it’s a lot of moving parts. … They could give you a playbook but you don’t know which one they’re calling, you know, and I think that makes it really hard on the defense and schematically for coordinators, and so I just think that part, to me, has been really impressive.”
The installation process is just getting started and the Saints have two more sets of OTAs, then a mandatory minicamp before a full training camp in July. It'll be on Kubiak, Carr and the others to be speaking the new offense like a second language sooner rather than later. Perhaps that's why the Saints had Klint's father, Gary, in the building early on.
"I’ve thoroughly enjoyed him as a person and as a coach, he’s been awesome. Every time I do something, whether it’s great, whether it’s not great, he’s on me about every detail, just being excellent. He’s so encouraging at the same time," Carr said. "Coach Gruden was that way with being able to demand, but also making you feel great at the same time. There’s a funny way about how you can do that, and I think Klint has that, too.”