Derek Carr made history in his very first start in the NFL. Carr became the first rookie quarterback in Las Vegas Raiders history to start a regular season opener, as he was under center in the team's Week 1 road defeat to the New York Jets in the 2014 season.

New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen was the one who made the call to roll with Carr in Week 1 of the Raiders' 2014 campaign. Allen would coach the four-time Pro Bowler for a mere three more games before he was fired following the Raiders’ 0-4 start to the year.

Fast forward nine years later and Carr is reunited with Allen. As Carr touched on during his introductory press conference with the Saints on Saturday, Allen played an instrumental role in his final decision to sign with New Orleans on a four-year, $150 million deal.

“How I feel about this man, hopefully, me sitting here tells you what I think about him,” Carr said. “You gave me my first opportunity.

“Every time we played y'all since we weren't on the same team, I would always tell you, ‘Thank you.' In the press conference leading up to that game, I'd say I was always thankful for D.A. because he gave me my chance. He trusted me with the keys to an organization, and to be that quarterback there for nine years, thank you for that. We're just getting started, though.”

It was not an easy task for the Saints to reach an agreement with Carr on a free agent deal. He had several other teams interested in securing his signature, including the Jets. But Allen did not want the team to miss out on its “No. 1 option” at the quarterback position.

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“We were the first ones to reach out,” Allen said. “We were the first ones to show interest.

“Derek was a guy that obviously I knew, but when our personnel people watched the tape and then our 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 make sure that he knew he was the No. 1 option.”

Carr joined the Saints following a nine-season run with the Raiders, where he set team records in multiple stats, including passing yards (35,222).