“Either a) he legitimately is like my shoulder has reached a point where I think I’d rather take care of it than play this season or ... b) it’s some sort of threat, like we asked for you guys to release us, you didn’t, we were upset when you just restructured the contract instead of trying to work out a release, so now here’s another path for us not showing us, and maybe now we’ll force a release,” Triplett continued. “I don’t know how there’s any resolution from this,” Triplett added. The Athletic’s Diana Russini added that she believes Carr does not want the “Kirk Cousins treatment” where a team is not committed to him long-term. Triplett and Nick Underhill believe that Carr wanted out and was very upset when the Saints restructured his contract and forced him to stay. It sure feels like Carr is intent on not playing for the Saints this season.

Regarding his injury, Breer writes that the “Saints knew about this shoulder issue. What I’m less sure about is if they view it as something that was actually threatening his 2025 season. The story I’ve heard is that Carr’s camp has told people that this actually stems from his ’23 AC joint sprain, which never fully healed,” Breer continues. The implication here seems to be that Carr wanted to play for former Saints coach Dennis Allen and may not be as thrilled to play with Kellen Moore. That Carr would really threaten to go under the knife to fix his arm rather than play out the 2025 season as a starter seems hard to believe, but his status with the Saints even beyond that appears to be shaky at the moment. New Orleans holds the No. 9 pick in the draft and could look to take a quarterback early to address the room.

The Saints listed the right-armed Carr with a left-hand injury late in Weeks 15-18 but made no mention of a throwing-shoulder issue. There seems to be more to this story. Carr has not yet decided whether he will undergo surgery but, regardless, it seems clear that the Saints must select a quarterback early in the 2025 NFL Draft at this point.

Though news of the injury broke only today, it appears as though the Saints’ have known “about this recent shoulder issue” for some time. The Saints brain trust evidently sprung a leak, though, and now the rest of the QB-needy teams know that leapfrogging the Saints’ No. 9 overall pick may be required to secure a high-end prospect. Carr’s 2025 availability remains unknown.