At 1-8 heading into their Week 10 tilt, the New Orleans Saints are going to face the Carolina Panthers. The team, which is itself battling with the most glaring headache of their 2024 campaign: internal dysfunction. Though 2025 has brought its own set of problems for the Saints, it seems the ghosts of last year’s locker room turmoil still haunt the team. At least, defensive end Cam Jordan’s latest comments indicate so.

“The locker room has way better energy this year than we did last year,” Cam Jordan said via NOF Network. “Last year, it felt like we were devoid of energy.”

His statements confirm that the Saints’ 2024 season was riddled with leadership breakdowns and a divided locker room. At the center of it all were head coach Dennis Allen and quarterback Derek Carr. A dynamic that was built on so much familiarity and trust, got unraveled as the season went along. Allen couldn’t keep the locker room together, and the future of Carr with his recurring injuries reportedly caused tension throughout the team.

The situation mirrors the turmoil seen with the Denver Broncos under Nathaniel Hackett, where veteran quarterback Russell Wilson’s arrival failed to fix deep-seated cultural issues, ultimately leading to a coaching change. Similarly, Allen’s leadership style was questioned.

Players reportedly felt the atmosphere lacked accountability and direction. Per reports, Carr’s leadership waned, and the uncertainty surrounding his availability created confusion in the offensive ranks.

As losses piled up, tension between Allen and Carr increasingly became palpable. The Saints lost seven consecutive games since the 1999 season, and the locker room began to splinter. In November 2024, the franchise parted ways with coach Allen. A few months later, Carr shocked the football world, announcing his retirement after 11 NFL seasons, two of which were spent in New Orleans.

The relationship between Allen and Carr dates back to 2014, when Allen was the head coach of the then-Oakland Raiders, and Carr was selected in the second round of the NFL Draft. Their reunion in New Orleans was nearly a decade later and was supposed to be some sort of redemption arc: a veteran quarterback reuniting with the coach who first believed in him.

Instead, the reunion proved star-crossed: Allen’s conservative coaching style clashed with Carr’s failing physical skills, and the Saints’ offense never found its rhythm. The shared history that was supposed to be a strength proved a handicap, with both men struggling under increasing heat. And when Allen was fired and Carr retired, few fans could help but notice an uncanny coincidence: both times Dennis Allen got fired as a head coach, Derek Carr was his quarterback.

Earlier this year, as Carr retired during the minicamp, Allen, now the Bears’ defensive coordinator, had only praise for his former quarterback.

“My experience with him was outstanding,” he said. “I mean, what a great individual. I was there when we drafted him in Oakland, had a chance to coach him again as he matured there in New Orleans. I love Derek Carr.”

Carr has now left. Allen has been fired. But the Saints are still stuck in a bad phase.

The Saints are still struggling, despite the coaching changes

As of now, the Saints have just one victory in Week 5 over the New York Giants. The cultural reboot under new head coach Kellen Moore is proving to be a difficult process. While there are glimpses of development from young players, the offense remains inconsistent.

They are hampered by injuries to key players like right tackle Taliese Fuaga and a run defense that ranks among the league’s worst, allowing nearly 130 yards per game. Even tight end Jack Stoll has been dealing with an injury, showing limited participation in the practice.

Additionally, the Saints have been struggling badly in their ground game lately. After managing only 57 rushing yards against the Rams, they’ve now gone five straight games without reaching 100 yards on the ground. With an average of just 89.6 rushing yards per game, they currently sit near the bottom of the league at 27th overall.

“We’ve got to do a better job on first down runs so we can keep running,” Kellen Moore said. “We’ve got to look at it from a schematic standpoint…We’re not getting it done yet.”

All in all, the Derek Carr, Dennis Allen chapter is closed, and the Saints look toward a future in which they improve their record.