What are the New Orleans Saints' plans for the 2023 season? The team acquired Derek Carr from the Las Vegas Raiders, seemingly as an attempt to continue to compete for this year. It's an interesting play, for sure. However, what's more interesting is the Saints' interest in incoming QB Hendon Hooker. The Tennessee product is reportedly flying to New Orleans to interview with the team, per Ian Rapoport.

“#Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker is flying today for a visit to the #Saints tomorrow, source said. Coming off a clean ACL tear, Hooker's prospects for the 2023 season are positive. New Orleans picks 29th.”

If the Saints draft Hendon Hooker, their intentions with Derek Carr are made clear: the latter is going to be a “bridge” QB. Bridge QBs are typically brought in to hold down the team while the rookie QB learns the ropes of an NFL offense. It would be surprising, to say the least. Many expected the team to stick with Carr for a long time given his contract (and their recent moves).

However, this year's QB class seems to be too good to pass up for the Saints. Gunning for Hooker also makes sense: his draft stock plummeted after suffering an ACL tear last year. Before the injury, Hooker led a Tennessee offense that dominated throughout the year. He would be a good buy-low option for New Orleans in case the Carr experiment doesn't work out.

The NFC South is completely wide-open for the Saints to take it. The Falcons did reload on defense, and Carolina has the first overall pick. However, if all goes well (read: they don't get injured to hell and back), New Orleans has a real chance of running away with the division.