New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr apologetically said he failed to give the Las Vegas Raiders the best version of himself last season and is focused on not letting that happen again with his new team.

“They just didn’t get my best and that drove me crazy at the end of the year because I felt so spread out in so many different ways,” Carr said during minicamp this week. “I just didn’t feel like myself and I feel bad for the (Raiders) coaches and players.”

Carr’s self-described regression in 2022 wasn’t a matter of effort or desire, he said. Rather, it came down to his approach to a mix of professional and personal challenges which he regrets, but from which he also grew.

The professional challenges last season included learning a new offense under then-new coach Josh McDaniels. Carr also alluded to unspecified personal matters that he preferred remain private. The Raiders were the only team Carr had played for, between Oakland and Las Vegas, until they released him last winter.

Since arriving in New Orleans, Carr said, he has tried to maintain a “simple” focus on his team and football.

“I’ve tried my best to get back to that. Hopefully it leads to some success,” Carr said. “It’s going to be a great lesson for me to learn to help some guys down the road when they go through a coaching change or a shift in whatever they’re doing.”

The Saints are hoping Carr will be the answer to inconsistent offensive production that has plagued them during consecutive non-playoff campaigns since Drew Brees’ retirement after the 2020 season.

Carr passed for 3,544 yards and 24 touchdowns but also threw 14 interceptions in 2022 — below the standard he’d set in four consecutive 4,000-plus yard seasons from 2018 to 2021.

RAVENS’ Jackson gets familiar with new OC >> For all the talk of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson learning new offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s scheme, it’s the different coaching style that has jumped out so far at minicamp.

Monken, hired after guiding Georgia’s offense to back-to-back NCAA titles, has been one of the most consistently loud, instructive voices through the first two days of the mandatory sessions.

It’s even caught Jackson a little by surprise, who only got acquainted with Monken after agreeing to his five-year, $260 million extension in late April.

“When I first signed, when I seen him, I didn’t really think he was that explosive when he was speaking and stuff like that,” Jackson said. “You get him in the meeting room, he’ll have you laughing and stuff. But he’s dead serious about the stuff that he’s saying.”

It’s a bit of practice what you preach for Monken, who has pledged to give Jackson more control in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage than he had with predecessor Greg Roman.

Jackson acknowledged he’s trying to be more vocal.

“He’s embraced it,” Monken said of Jackson. “He’s embraced trying to be louder, trying to be in control.”