Derek Carr Retires
New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr announced his retirement from the National Football League.
Fantasy Football Impact
A release by the team explains that in late March, while ramping up his preparation for the 2025 season, Carr experienced pain in his right shoulder. It was his first time throwing a football at significant volume since recovering from both a concussion and a left-hand injury sustained during play on December 8, 2024. Carr immediately contacted the Saints Medical Team.
Eventually, medical scans determined objectively that Carr sustained a labral tear and also had significant degenerative changes to his rotator cuff.
Since that time, Carr, his representation, the Saints medical team, and outside medical experts have worked together to determine the best path forward. Surgery was an option, jeopardizing the entire 2025 season, yet there was no guarantee the veteran quarterback would return to the level of strength, function, and performance to which he was accustomed.
By retiring, Carr forgoes the $30 million guaranteed this season on his contract. At the same time, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports the Saints won't seek reimbursement for the $10 million roster bonus and signing bonus.
Carr, 34, played his first nine seasons for the Raiders and the last two campaigns in New Orleans. During his time with the Raiders, Carr made four Pro Bowls and became one of the franchise's favorite signal-callers. However, after the 2022 season, Las Vegas parted ways with Carr after a disappointing campaign, even though he made his last Pro Bowl appearance.
Carr posted a 14-13 record in his two seasons with the Saints, throwing for 6,023 yards, 40 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. His last and final season in New Orleans was cut short to 10 games as he battled multiple injuries.
Carr's retirement leaves the Saints with three quarterbacks on their roster: 2025 second-round pick Tyler Shough, 2024 fifth-round pick Spencer Rattler, and 2023 fourth-round pick Jake Haener.
Moore told reporters on Saturday they will rotate all their quarterbacks, give them all opportunities, as one tries to seize the starting job. “We’re going to let all three of these guys roll,” Moore said.
Each will be given the chance to win the Saints’ starting job.
The Fantasy Football Fallout
As I wrote in a Polarizing Players: Post NFL Draft Edition with Gary Davenport late last month, my sense was that Carr had already checked out. I went on to suggest the Saints wouldn't mind that outcome.
Now that they have that outcome, it's worth noting that Pick No. 40, the one they used to select Shough last month, is the highest the Saints have taken a quarterback since they selected Archie Manning in the first round of the 1971 draft. Shough, who'll turn 26 in September, spent time at Oregon and Texas Tech before finishing a seven-year run in college at Louisville in 2024.
He suffered several injuries over that time, and Moore said his experience and resilience were the things that made him their choice.
"We saw it as a positive," Moore said. "He's been through a lot of football; he's been exposed to a lot of different settings. And the quarterback position, these guys aren't reaching their peak for a while. He's going to continue to rise and grow."
There weren't many positives when Carr was sidelined by injuries last year.
Rattler started six games for the Saints and played in seven of them. He threw for 1,317 yards, four touchdowns, five interceptions, and completed 57 percent of his passes. Rattler will likely compete with Shough for the starting job.
Meanwhile, Shough is big and mobile, possesses a quality arm, works the entire field, and understands coverages. He passed for 3,195 yards for a 62 percent completion rate in his last year at Louisville.
Better still, as noted in the 2025 Footballguys Rookie Draft Guide Version 3.0, "Shough is the perfect fit for the downfield passing game that Moore has run with Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, and most recently, Jalen Hurts. With nearly 40 games of experience over six college seasons, Shough should be ready to jump into a starting role, even if it comes with the typical rookie mistakes."
Footballguy Alfredo Brown added: "Think of Shough as providing Jameis Winston-level production for the pass catchers in New Orleans."
Shough moves up to QB31 on the 2025 Footballguys Projections with Carr no longer in the mix.
As for the supporting cast?
Full list of Saints players whose fantasy values are affected by Derek Carr’s retirement:
— Jeff Bell (@4WhomJBellTolls) May 10, 2025
While Jeff Bell's initial take might have been sarcastic, it's not necessarily wrong, even though it's fair to wonder if Chris Olave feels the same.
Olave was injured Nov. 3 on an illegal hit by Carolina Panthers cornerback Xavier Woods. Olave couldn't reach a high throw from Carr in traffic, leaving him vulnerable. The hit to Olave's head left him motionless on the field. He was diagnosed with a concussion and transported to a hospital in Charlotte after being carted off the field on a backboard.
In the immediate aftermath of the play, former Saints receiver Michael Thomas, who played with Carr in 2023 -- the QB's first season in New Orleans, ripped into Carr in a social media rant, insinuating that Carr's throw was to blame for Olave's injury. Olave's brother, Josh Olave, reposted Thomas's rant in response to a question on Twitter about whether he and his brother needed to have a "Is it worth it?" talk.
Carr addressed the criticism that his throw left Olave vulnerable to injury. "It's just something I would never do to a teammate. It was single high. The ball went to where we talked about it going. And Chris got hit in the head, unfortunately. That happens in our game."
Still, the hit against the Panthers resulted in Olave's second concussion in less than a month. The first was against the Buccaneers on Oct. 13. They were the fourth and fifth documented concussions of Olave's career dating back to his time at Ohio State.
Olave sits at WR26 on the Footballguys 2025 Projections.
Of course, Rashid Shaheed was arguably the Saints' No. 1 in 2024. In five full games together, Olave produced 28 targets and 277 air yards, compared to 34 and 580 air yards for Shaheed. Shaheed handled a solid 24 percent target share in his six complete games and reached 15 fantasy points (in PPR formats) four times. As ESPN's Mike Clay pointed out, had he kept up his six-game pace (which included one game where he scored zero), Shaheed would have put up 226.1 fantasy points. That would have ranked him as the WR17. He's currently available as WR55 in Round 10 of early Underdog best-ball drafts.
It remains to be seen, however, if Shaheed can establish a connection with a new quarterback similar to the one he enjoyed with Carr.
The big winner might be Alvin Kamara, who should continue to benefit from a heavy workload in an offense that will need to take pressure off whoever their starting quarterback is.
Kamara, who finished last season as RB5, is projected to finish as RB12. He's currently being drafted as RB20 on Underdog, available in the sixth round.
Stock Watch
Risers
Fallers
- None
Overview
New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr is retiring, the team announced Saturday. The decision was health-related; Carr had a labral tear and degenerative rotator cuff damage to his right throwing shoulder. Rookie Tyler Shough is the early favorite to win the starting job in Carr's absence, but he'll have to beat out Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener to secure the job.
