Derek Carr had a rough 2022 all around.
In his first and only season with Josh McDaniels, Carr completed just 60.8% of his passes, his lowest rate since his rookie season, and posted a career-worst 2.8% interception rate.
His 7.0 yards per pass attempt and 234.8 passing yards per game were his lowest since 2017.
On passes thrown more than 10 yards down the field, Carr ranked 44th out of 47 qualifying quarterbacks in accuracy, 41st in EPA per attempt, 41st in success rate, and 40th in yards per attempt.
Those numbers are not great, but Warren Sharp shared an even more concerning stat about Carr's performance near the end zone.
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completion rate inside the 10-yard line
68% – Daniel Jones
64% – Ryan Tannehill
63% – Dak Prescott
62% – Jimmy Garoppolo
60% – Patrick Mahomes
59% – Jared Goff
56% – Trevor Lawrence
55% – Justin Herbert
55% – Marcus Mariota
53% – Aaron Rodgers
53% – Kirk Cousins
52% – Mac Jones…— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) June 29, 2023
Carr completed just 33% of his passes inside the 10 last season, the lowest rate among qualifying quarterbacks.
Carr had completed 51.2% of his career passes inside the 10 prior to last season, so it is reasonable to expect a bounceback this year.
The Saints will hope that is the case.
New Orleans was quietly an efficient passing offense last season.
They were seventh in success rate (43.2%), ninth in completion rate (66.0%), fifth in yards per pass attempt (7.8), and seventh in yards per completion (11.7).
As a team, they finished third in yards per route run (1.45), seventh in yards per catch (11.7), and 11th in the rate of targets to result in a first down or touchdown (36.7%) with a 35-year-old Andy Dalton at quarterback.
Carr was brought in as an upgrade over Dalton, and he will need to be more efficient, especially near the end zone, for the Saints to take a step forward.