What's going on here? The New Orleans Saints are going into the weekend and will come out the other side on Monday with players reporting to the team facility for the start of their offseason program -- but first, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport dropped a bomb on their heads. Rapoport broke the story that Derek Carr is dealing with a shoulder injury which may require offseason surgery and threaten his 2025 season.
And we've got a lot of questions. When did the Saints know about this? Before or after they restructured Carr's contract in March, guaranteeing him $40 million? How severe is it? What specifically is he dealing with, which other treatment options have been explored, and is it the end for his time in New Orleans?
It's just too soon to say. Carr has been sequestered at his home in sunny Fresno, Calif. since the season ended in January. We don't know when he was planning to report for work in New Orleans or when this injury flared up. He's been very pointedly out of the spotlight all offseason.
Either way, it's coming out at a brutal time for the Saints. Their offseason kicks off in three days. The 2025 NFL draft starts in two weeks. You'd hope the Saints knew about this injury when it happened, and maybe that explains why they've done so much homework on this quarterbacks class. But it's still ugly optics for a team already facing a lot of scrutiny. Let's see how they work to get out of it.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Derek Carr's injury couldn't have come at a worse time for the Saints
