New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr is now among the long list of Saints players battling injury. Carr suffered an oblique injury in the fourth quarter of the Saints' Monday night 26-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
So if Carr can't play on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which of the Saints' backup quarterbacks will play in his stead?
"If it's not Derek Carr, I think the Saints will go with Jake Haener," NFL analyst Mike Detillier said.
Detillier told WWL's Tommy Tucker that even though Haener is ahead of rookie Spencer Rattler on the depth chart, there's still a chance that Rattler, the Saints 2024 fifth-round draft pick, could see playing time if Carr's injury keeps him on the shelf for an extended period. Still, with a short week and a division rival coming to the Superdome, Detillier says he knows the Saints are hoping that Carr's injury is minor.
"They're going to go with Derek Carr unless he says (he) can't do it," Detillier said. "One thing with Carr is that he hasn't missed a lot of time. They would want him on the field instead of going to Haener or Rattler at this stage."
In fact, Carr played through an injury to compete against the Buccaneers during the 2023 season.
"He played that Tampa Bay game early, and he may have been 60 percent healthy in that game. Still to this day, I don't know why they played him in that game."
Detillier says the decision as to who starts on Sunday will boil down to one factor.
"You want a chance to win (or to be) given the best opportunity to win."
