Derek Carr retires: Options at quarterback for Saints, including rookie Tyler Shough, pursuing Aaron Rodgers

After 11 NFL seasons, New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr announced his retirement. Carr has been dealing with a shoulder injury throughout this offseason, and rather than getting surgery and missing the entire 2025 season, Carr chose to call it a career.

While rumors were already swirling regarding Carr’s 2025 status ahead of the NFL Draft, we now know for certain that he will not be in the picture. And that means it’s time to start considering what the Saints’ other options will be under center. 

There are several different directions in which the team can go, and we want to take a minute to examine each of them here. 

This is the option that makes the most sense. The Saints just selected Shough with a second-round pick — No. 40 overall. He was the second draft pick of the Kellen Moore era, and New Orleans clearly felt good enough about him to invest significant resources in acquiring him. Shough was also touted as being an NFL-ready prospect due to his age (he turns 26 years old in September) and extensive college experience (he appeared in 42 total games and made 32 starts across seven seasons at Oregon, Texas Tech and Louisville). The Saints would also benefit from getting a long look at Shough before deciding whether they need to invest in a first-round quarterback next offseason, with a draft class that is considered much more top-heavy than this year’s. If he plays well, great; they have their long-term answer. If he doesn’t, they’ll likely be in good position to draft someone in 2026. 

Neither of these options makes much sense. Both Rattler and Haener were drafted by a previous regime in New Orleans, and they were both Day 3 picks. The Saints do not have much invested in either of them. We’ve also seen them make starts, and the results were not good. If they’re going to start a player currently on the roster, it should without question be Shough.

Ranking top 10 QB-WR/TE tandems involving rookies: Packers, Bears, surprise NFC South team lead way

Garrett Podell

This is the big domino waiting to fall all offseason. Rodgers has been taking his sweet time making a decision, first on whether or not to even play in 2025, and then on which team to play for if he does. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been seen as the front-runners for his services, and it has seemed almost like a foregone conclusion that he’d go to Pittsburgh if he goes anywhere. Could New Orleans now get in the mix? It would almost certainly be a one-year bridge solution, but given the Saints’ situation, it’s probably not the best idea. They’re not really in position to contend given the overall state of their roster, so all they’d be doing is giving themselves a higher floor for the 2025 season and making it more difficult to find a long-term answer in 2026. If the Saints are looking for a veteran free agent signing who will be more low-maintenance and perhaps provide even more volatility in terms of floor outcomes, Wentz is still available as well.

The same rationale as above applies to a trade for Cousins, except it would make even less sense to pursue this option because the Saints would also be forced to surrender draft capital to acquire him. Cousins’ $27.5 million base salary is also prohibitive here, as New Orleans only has $27 million in cap room. Barring a restructure (a very bad idea) or Atlanta eating some of the salary as part of the deal (which could raise the price in terms of draft compensation), the financial realities of this type of trade should make it a nonstarter even before we get to the team-building reasons why it doesn’t make that much sense.

Trade for somebody else

If the Saints are absolutely dead set on having a veteran option beyond Shough, there are other players out there. They could bring back Jameis Winston by making a deal with the Giants. (Or they could trade for Russell Wilson instead.) Perhaps the Rams would be willing to part with Jimmy Garoppolo, or the Jaguars with Mac Jones. There are players still on their rookie contacts who might be some degree of gettable based on appetite and compensation, with guys like Tanner McKee, Will Levis and Aidan O’Connell coming to mind. But none of those seems preferable to just starting Shough. The same applies to going after veteran backups like Kenny Pickett or Jarrett Stidham.