It was a duo of Saints QBs past and present on Wednesday at the Zurich Class pro-am, with Drew Brees and Derek Carr all smiles at TPC Louisiana.
For Brees it was a familiar environment, but it was the first time Carr joined the pros for a round ahead of the annual PGA event.
"I was a kid in a candy store, like pros, Masters champ and I was just asking questions, just trying to learn," Carr said, "because I love golf and I was just asking them questions and they had no problem helping, reading putts for me, all that kind of stuff. So today was just a dream come true for me, really, just being a golf fan.”
Brees and Carr were teamed up with Zach Johnson and Ryan Palmer, and their advice was critical on a sunny day out in Avondale. But it's been Brees' advice to Carr that's made a big impact as the 2024 season nears. Carr said he did feel guilty taking Drew away from his kids, but that they had set aside a time to chat at length since he arrived in New Orleans.
And yes, those football conversations did extend to the golf course.
"To spend 5 hours together on the course and just in a relaxed environment to have a chance to talk ball and talk about family and just a lot of stuff," Brees said. "I’ve got so much respect for him and really excited for the opportunity he’s gonna have this year with the team."
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More from Derek Carr
On new offensive system
“It’s been a lot of fun, like, I’ve learned a lot of different systems, a lot of different verbiage. A lot of the verbage here is very similar to what I remember with coach Gruden and other areas, and so learning the words, learning that kind of stuff hasn’t been too hard. Protection-wise, too, I’ve done the same kind of stuff that they’ve done, so for me, I have a lot of obviously experience to rely on, but just the way we make this call, the way we do things, it’s going to look different to our fans from what they’re used to, from what I was used to last year. It’s gonna look different. It’s gonna feel different, but I think it’s gonna be great. I think it’s good for our guys to help us play fast as just individuals and as a collective unit, so I’m excited about it.”
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On James Hurst's retirement
“We had had obviously discussions about -- anyone who gets, once you get up past 10 years, especially at the O-line and all that kind of stuff, like, those talks start happening in your head and I didn’t read this things. I don’t know the reasons and all that kind of stuff, but just his impact he made on our locker room, the friend he was to me, the teammate he was to me. When we went through our struggles early on, just him as a teammate, putting his arm around me, letting me know we know this is gonna pass. You’re fine. All that stuff matters, and he is one of those guys. And so as a teammate, as a leader, he was someone I looked up to and loved as a teammate. I’m gonna miss him. I’m happy for him.”
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On Ryan Ramczyk
“I check in on him, saw him. Any time I see Ram, it’s a good day. So how he’s feeling, all that kind of stuff. You know Ram, he’s a man of few words, and so … I’m like, how you doing? He’s like, good. It’s like, all right, perfect. I didn’t want to know anything else, so I think we all love Ram. We’re all hoping the recovery is perfect and all that kind of stuff. Especially as a quarterback, that’s one of my favorite people on the team, just how he goes about his business. But I think he’s doing good.”
On Saints approach for 2024
“It just feels lighter, I guess, so to speak. There’s no pressing. There’s no, you know, we feel the urgency of what we want to do, but I just feel like there’s so much freedom in relationships and freedom in our locker room and things like that where like, I don’t feel like guys are pressing, feel like, ahh, I got to do it right now. Even for myself I feel freer. I feel freer as a leader to be all that I am, who I am, and just trying to be better in every way for my teammates in that area, too. I think that’s, as you take a step back you’re like, wow. Like, I told my wife, anything my teammates want to do this offseason, I’m there. Juwan calls me, cornhole, yep, there, everything else is on the backburner, because I saw that when we did this the results were better.”