New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore was fresh off of watching his rookie QB acclimate to NFL life, but the majority of the questions were about the veteran who won't be coming back.
That's because just hours prior the Saints officially announced Derek Carr would be retiring from the NFL, a stunning end to a saga that's been a dull roar in the background of Moore's first offseason as the Saints head coach.
"Everyone goes through this process in their career," Moore said after the second day of rookie minicamp practice. "Everyone wants to be an NFL football player. For the guys who get to do it, it’s incredible. It’s an incredible experience. There’s nothing like it. Naturally everyone has to transition at some point to something else. We’re all there for Derek in any way we can possibly help as he goes through this process."
The decision was made roughly a month after news first broke that Carr was dealing with a shoulder injury that had the potential to require surgery. To that point the Saints had been publicly committed to Carr as the starter, even after changing head coach regimes, going so far as to restructure his contract and guaranteeing an additional $40 million on his deal.
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The team first became aware of the injury in March, which doctors confirmed to be a labral tear and degenerative issues within the rotator cuff. Carr has opted to retire rather than undergo surgery that wasn't guaranteed to return his shoulder to peak condition. The team and Carr are of the belief that the injury occurred during the win over the Giants in the 2024 season on the same play where Carr attempted to dive for a first down and also suffered a concussion and fractured hand as he landed hard on the turf.
Moore maintained that the communication from Carr had been stellar throughout, even as he remained largely out of the public eye and did not attend the team's offseason conditioning program. Moore did admit that he never met with Carr in person this season, though the QB was in New Orleans at certain points. Communication was largely routed through GM Mickey Loomis, who declined to address the situation in any way beyond acknowledging the injury in his press conferences around the draft.
"It was really good communication through the whole process as far as navigating this," Moore said. "Challenging circumstances with him being injured at the end of the year and then kind of navigating things throughout the whole offseason process and so I think Derek, the people that are part of his life have communicated really well with the Saints. I think that it’s been really good communication and so we feel like it was done the right way.”
There was significant rumor and innuendo involved in the offseason regarding Carr, particularly once the injury news broke. There was significant chatter that the injury might not have been real, something Carr addressed during a church sermon in Las Vegas, calling out "lies" that had been spread about him and addressing serious issues that had impacted his family throughout the process, including his wife, Heather, suffering a miscarriage.
“Like a lot of players they navigate a lot of things as they go through this journey and certainly this offseason he’s navigated a lot," Moore said, "and so you certainly recognize that, sympathize with that. He’s been great through this whole process. When you sometimes have to adjust and make a turn here, that’s all part of this profession and you’ve got to be ready to adjust.”
The Saints drafted Louisville QB Tyler Shough at No. 40 overall, and he's expected to compete for the starting job Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener, though the team won't rule out adding another veteran option.