New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr is reportedly considering surgery on his shoulder that could rule him out for the entire 2025 NFL season well before minicamp even begins. With the news coming out just a few weeks before the 2025 NFL Draft, it could have significant ramifications on what New Orleans does in Round 1.
The Saints were already in the quarterback market this offseason, but the widely held belief was that any rookie brought in would sit behind Carr to open next season. All of those plans and the possibility of New Orleans waiting until Day 2 to take a signal-caller were thrown for a loop following the latest injury news.
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- Derek Carr stats (ESPN): 2,145 passing yards, 15-5 TD-INT, 67.7% completion rate
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network first reported the news of Carr’s injury on Friday. The belief remains that the veteran quarterback is in serious danger of missing the 2025 NFL season, but a decision on surgery hasn’t been made yet. However, this had reportedly been a known issue for some time inside Louisiana.
According to The Athletic‘s Dianna Russini, Friday’s NFL news regarding Carr’s injury surprised many around the league. However, New Orleans had already been aware of it and the team was preparing for the 2025 NFL Draft with the knowledge that its highly paid quarterback might not play in 2025.
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- Derek Carr contract (Spotrac): $20.462 million cap hit in 2025, $69.207 million cap hit in 2026
The timing of the injury news still isn’t great for New Orleans. In early March, per ESPN, the Saints restructured Carr’s contract to create more cap space for the 2025 season. While it helped them land a few free agents, it also significantly increased their financial obligations to him in future years.
Because of the restructured contract, New Orleans would be on the hook for substantial salary cap ramifications if Carr is released next offseason. Cutting Carr outright leaves a $59.67 million cap hit with just $9.537 million in cap savings. If Carr is a post-June 1 release designation, the Saints would free up $50 million in cap space but would then have a $40.463 million dead cap in 2027.
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That’s why it’s even more critical for the Saints to find a new starting quarterback and a rookie-scale contract and why they’ve emerged as the overwhelming favorites to draft Shedeur Sanders. Now the question becomes whether or not New Orleans needs to trade up ahead of the Las Vegas Raiders (sixth overall pick) and New York Jets (seventh overall pick) to land the young quarterback.
For now, the tentative expectation seems to be that Sanders will be available for the Saints with the ninth overall pick. If he is the selection made, he’ll step in immediately as the starter and hopefully provide both stability for the offense and hope for the franchise’s future.
