Saints QB Derek Carr Announces Retirement After 11 Seasons

The New Orleans Saints announced today, Saturday, May 10, that QB Derek Carr informed the team of his plans to retire. The team cites a shoulder injury as Carr’s reason for retirement. The injury became an issue in early March, and Carr’s availability was in question for the 2025 season going into the draft in April. Carr could have considered surgery, which would have cut significant time off of his 2025 campaign but made it possible for him to continue playing. Let’s take a deeper look at Carr’s career and decision.

Derek Carr Retires Due to Shoulder Injury

Derek Carr informed the New Orleans Saints today of his plans to retire after 11 seasons in the NFL. Carr played two of his NFL seasons with the New Orleans Saints after being traded there by the Las Vegas Raiders, who drafted him. Carr’s exit from the Raiders organization was met with a decent amount of controversy. Carr would go on to remain healthy in his first season with New Orleans and throw for over 3,800 yards. Carr may not have been the best QB in the league by any stretch of the imagination, but he still appeared to be more than serviceable for a Raiders team that had no answer in the cards at that time.

Derek Carr’s 2024 campaign with the Saints showed more signs of decline, with him missing 7 games due to injury. This injury was the beginning of shoulder issues for Carr as well. Reports then surfaced in March that Carr had been experiencing pain in the shoulder again in the weeks leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft. The Saints drafted QB Tyler Shough in the second round as a potential QB of the future. The team also has released backup QB Ben DeNucci, leaving the New Orleans QB room with a group of inexperienced and untested players.

Final Thoughts

The Saints knew that the QB position was going to be a weakness for them going into the 2025 season, and experts expect that was what led to the decision to draft Tyler Shough. With the nature of Derek Carr’s injury and the way that already aging QBs can immediately hit a wall once they lose the strength of their shoulder, I think Carr was making the smart decision for himself and his family. Carr retires from the NFL with over 41,000 passing yards, 257 TDs, and a resume that has fans online debating if he will make it to Canton one day. No matter if he does make it into the Hall of Fame or not, we thank him for everything that he gave to the game on this day. Good luck to Derek and the Carr family on the next chapter of your lives.