Like many of his teammates, Saints tight end Juwan Johnson has been impressed by his new quarterback Derek Carr.
But with training camp approaching, Johnson noted that as New Orleans’ offense continues to evolve under coordinator Pete Carmichael, Carr may have better players around him than ever before.
“I feel like with Derek, there’s a lot of things you can do,” Johnson said in a recent interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio. “He’s been in an offense where he’s had Josh McDaniels, Jon Gruden, so he has a lot of that he can bring over to our offense. Obviously, we have a lot of pieces on our offense — which I think he’s probably never had before. So that’s something that he can use a little bit.
“So, a big credit to Pete — Pete’s been working his tail off this offseason. We’ve got some stuff in there that I’m like, ‘Pete, I’ve never seen this before, but I like it.’ So, I’m really excited for Pete going into Year Two. He’s been behind Sean for so long. So, he’s learned a lot and he’s ready to blow up now.”
While the Saints do have players like Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave, Jamaal Williams, Michael Thomas, Taysom Hill, Foster Moreau, and Johnson, Carr did go through last season with Davante Adams, Josh Jacobs, Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow, and Moreau. Waller and Renfrow weren’t healthy for the entire season, but it’s not like Carr was playing with a bunch of scrubs before.
Johnson is entering his fourth season with the Saints, with the club having picked him up as an undrafted free agent in 2020. So, Johnson spent one season with quarterback Drew Brees at the helm before going through the carousel of QBs over the last two years.
That’s likely why Johnson’s praise of Carr included a comparison to Brees.
“It honestly felt like we’ve been working with Derek for a while now, so OTAs was really good, really smooth,” Johnson said. “He’s giving me more of a feel — because he’s an older guy — he’s giving me a lot of Drew [Brees]. Going into the huddle, commanding the huddle, guys gravitating toward him — these are things [I saw from] how Drew conducted the offense and things like that.
“So, it’s giving me similar feels. And so I’m really excited about what Derek has and how he’s going to move this offense.”
