Klint Kubiak brings Derek Carr and the Saints offense into action

This offseason, the New Orleans Saints were looking for a new offensive coordinator after finally moving on from Pete Carmichael Jr., the last holdover from the Sean Payton era. Carmichael had held the position since 2009.

Although the search was broad, a clear theme seemed to emerge in the selection of candidates: give us someone who knows how to play a version of Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan's offense. Jerrod Johnson (Houston Texans), Brian Griese (San Francisco 49ers), Shane Waldron (Seattle Seahawks) and eventual candidate for the job, Klint Kubiak (49ers), all went through the selection process. One person familiar with the thinking behind the decision said simply that Derek Carr needed an ally; someone or somethingthing to use one's best abilities and use them correctly.

It's early, but in two games with Kubiak, the Saints have beaten two opponents and found themselves as one of the most exciting offensive teams in the league. Granted, those two opponents were the Carolina Panthers — the worst team in the NFL — and the Dallas Cowboys, a team that looked great in Week 1 but could have simply been a target for the Cleveland Browns with no offensive tackles and a quarterback who is basically dysfunctional. But Ejiro Evero and Mike Zimmer remain two of the most impressive defensive minds in football, and Kubiak has outclassed them 47-10 and 44-19 over the course of two weeks.

The events of the 2024 season, combined with the Saints' decision to hire Kubiak, raise an absolutely fascinating question now that we can see Carr in a different offense and put the pieces of his recent career into perspective. Put another way, Carr may have been one of the most failed quarterbacks of his era who offered Pro Bowl quality.

Think about that for a moment. Last year, Carr had Carmichael, a coordinator whose offensive numbers plummeted after Drew Brees retired and Sean Payton left. Carmichael now works for the Denver Broncos and has rejoined Payton after being fired last year.

Before that? Carr worked for Josh McDaniels, whose numbers were mostly terrible without Tom Brady.

Before that? Carr worked with Jon Gruden, who borrowed heavily and generously from coaches like Shanahan and McVay, but in 18 years as an offensive playmaker, playmaking head coach, or head coach in general, only managed seven seasons with a top-10 passing offense.

Perhaps Carr joins a long list of quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Ryan Tannehill, Sam Darnold, Tua Tagovailoa, Geno Smith and others whose careers were revived by playing in a system designed or inspired by Shanahan or McVay. That's significant because in an era where our quarterback dimension is still weak, Carr, at 33, is still capable of putting together a handful of good seasons.

When Carr threw his interception on Sunday — which, for clarity, was a deflected ball and therefore not necessarily his fault — he had only thrown two incomplete passes. He had been sacked once, despite playing against Micah Parsons and in an offense that can expose less mobile quarterbacks with deeper leg movement.

It's unfair to attribute success directly to the system or systems, and we should remember that each coach from those family trees has his own background and system adjustments. Kubiak's father, Gary, was a fundamental part of creating what we now think of as Shanahan's offense and was Mike Shanahan's OC for a decade. Klint Kubiak was influenced by other coaches and systems. Oddly (and probably gratifying to Klint), he was fired as offensive coach by Zimmer, whose defense he embarrassed on Sunday.

But the coaches who come from the Shanahan lineage are always characterized by their extraordinary thoroughness, attention to detail and quarterback-focusedness. They have taken the best players and made them better. They have taken the worst players and made them passable.

And in the case of Carr, they took players we may have had the wrong idea about and polished them up to give them back their former glory. How incredible is it that Alvin Kamara and Carr now sound like a venerable threat again after we thought their skills had declined based on what we saw on the field.

Maybe there was something else wrong in New Orleans that had nothing to do with Carr or some of his best offensive weapons.