NEW ORLEANS — When Derek Carr walked out of the New Orleans Saints’ locker room for the final time this spring, there was no grand farewell, no parade of teammates or fans lining the halls.
There was only a sense of unfinished business. A franchise was suddenly thrust into uncertainty, and a city forced to reckon with a future it never saw coming.
Carr’s retirement was the kind of seismic event that sends ripples through every level of an NFL organization.
Two years into a four-year, $150 million contract, the veteran quarterback was supposed to bring stability and credibility to a team still searching for its post-Drew Brees identity.
Instead, a devastating shoulder injury and the specter of a long, grueling recovery forced his hand.
Carr, 34, chose to retire rather than undergo surgery, forgoing $30 million in guaranteed salary and leaving the Saints with a gaping hole at the most important position in sports.
The news landed like a thunderclap in New Orleans.
Fans had grown accustomed to the steady, if unspectacular, presence Carr brought to the huddle.
In his lone full season, he completed 68.4 percent of his passes for nearly 3,900 yards, 25 touchdowns, and a respectable 97.7 passer rating. It was enough to keep the Saints competitive, if not truly threatening in the NFC.
But the shoulder that once delivered lasers downfield had become a liability. Medical scans revealed a torn labrum and significant degenerative changes to his rotator cuff, making the prospect of playing in 2025 all but impossible.
Carr’s decision left the Saints at a crossroads, and the timing couldn’t have been worse.
The franchise had already missed the quarterback-rich 2024 draft’s first round, and the free agent market was bare. In the weeks that followed, the Saints did what desperate teams do: they turned to youth, hope, and a little bit of luck.
Enter Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough.
The Saints selected Rattler, a polarizing but undeniably talented rookie out of South Carolina, in the fifth round.
Shough, a Louisville product with size and a gunslinger mentality, came aboard as a second-day pick as well. Suddenly, the quarterback room looked more like a college dorm than a professional locker room.
Rattler, once projected as a top-10 pick before a turbulent college career, has always been a study in contrasts.
His arm talent is electric, but his decision-making has been erratic. Still, the Saints wasted little time installing him as the starter for Week 6 of the 2024 season, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.
“He’s got the tools,” said coach Dennis Allen at the time. “Now it’s about putting it together under the lights.”
Behind Rattler, Shough’s own story is a testament to perseverance.
After bouncing from Oregon to Texas Tech and finally Louisville, Shough pieced together a career-high 3,195 passing yards and 23 touchdowns in his final collegiate season.
Scouts praised his poise and leadership, if not his mechanics. For now, he’s the backup. In New Orleans, the line between starter and second-string has never felt thinner.
Jake Haener, a third-year pro from Fresno State, rounds out the group. Haener was a preseason darling but struggled in limited action, completing less than half of his passes in 2024.
Still, with Carr gone, every rep in camp matters, and Haener’s experience — limited as it is — could buy him another look if the rookies falter.
The Saints’ plan, if it can be called that, is to let the young quarterbacks compete and hope that one emerges as a true franchise cornerstone. It is an uneasy gamble, one forced by circumstance rather than design.
The franchise’s reluctance to draft a quarterback high in recent years now looks like a costly miscalculation, and the front office faces mounting pressure to find a long-term answer … and fast.
Inside the building, optimism is mixed with anxiety.
The coaching staff, led by Allen, insists the team can compete while developing new talent.
There’s truth in the assessment New Orleans still boasts a strong defense and weapons like Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave on offense.
But in the NFL, all roads lead through the quarterback, and untested youth is rarely a shortcut to success.
The rest of the league is watching, too.
In a division where the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have their own quarterback dramas, the NFC South is wide open but the Saints’ quarterback situation is the most volatile of all.
The team’s past stability under Brees only magnifies the current uncertainty, and the city’s famously passionate fanbase is growing restless.
What happens next?
The Saints will give Rattler every chance to seize the job. If he flashes the upside that once made him a Heisman favorite, New Orleans could stumble onto its next franchise leader by accident.
If not, Shough and Haener will get their shots. There is always the possibility of a late-season veteran addition, but for now, the franchise is wedded to its youth movement.
For the Saints, the 2024 season is less about winning now than about finding out who they can trust for the future.
The franchise that once relied on a future Hall of Famer now finds itself hoping for a miracle. In New Orleans, miracles have a way of happening when you least expect them.
But as the city holds its breath, the only certainty is uncertainty. The Saints’ quarterback odyssey is just getting started, and the next chapter promises to be as unpredictable as the city itself.