The New Orleans Saints are trying to do something they haven't had to do in nearly two decades: Prepare a new starting quarterback in just one offseason.
And with that in mind, they've brought in a big name in ex-Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, according to a report from Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com, to help grease the skids as the Derek Carr era begins in New Orleans.
Carr had some of the best success of his career over the three-plus seasons Gruden spent as the Raiders head coach prior to resigning midway through the 2021 season. Gruden hasn't been employed in the NFL since his departure from Las Vegas following an email scandal.
The Saints have lauded Carr's fit in Pete Carmichael's system, with roots that go back to the 1997 season when Gruden served as the Eagles offensive coordinator with former Saints coach Sean Payton as the QBs coach.
"It's a new system, new words, a lot of similarities to things that I grew up on and that I believe in," Carr said after his first OTA practice. "And so it's still a learning curve but it's not as big of a curve as it could be in a different system or a different offense. And so me, today, I was just trying to have clear communication in and out of the huddle and doing all the little things right. And so it's been a lot of hard work on doing that, but it's just Day 1. We've got more work to do, but it was a good start."
Carr comes to the Saints after a middling season under current Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels, but he's joined in that transition by former teammates in WR Bryan Edwards and TE Foster Moreau.
The new Saints QB says he expects to be up to speed on all the terminology by the end of OTAs, which will be held each of the next two weeks, followed by a mandatory minicamp in mid June, and the full training camp starting in late July.
