INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Derek Carr has said publicly that he would come out of retirement for the right situation.<\/p>\n
At the NFL scouting combine this week, that right situation could actually be unfolding.<\/p>\n
The New Orleans Saints would not be among those shocked to see Carr put back on his cleats for 2026. And while that\u2019s still not guaranteed, the buzz around Carr continued to get louder after NFL Insider Jordan Schultz reported that Carr is \u201cvery serious\u201d about un-retiring.<\/p>\n
Carr, who played two seasons with the Saints before retiring last offseason with a shoulder injury, said earlier this month that he\u2019d only un-retire if he had a chance to play for a Super Bowl contender.<\/p>\n
Those options would seemingly limit Carr\u2019s market, but there are at least a few teams on the verge of contention who fit that criteria. Notably, Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O\u2019Connell and Atlanta Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski declined to endorse their young starting quarterbacks each entering Year 3 after disappointing seasons that saw both clubs narrowly miss out on the playoffs. And if Aaron Rodgers decides to call it quits, the Pittsburgh Steelers \u2014 who did make the postseason \u2014 would be another potential landing spot for Carr.<\/p>\n
There seems to be no consensus yet on whether the interest in Carr is mutual.<\/p>\n
Any team pinning its hopes on Carr in 2026 would have to feel comfortable enough with a signal-caller who hasn\u2019t played football in a year and had a shoulder injury that caused \u201csignificant degenerative changes to his rotator cuff,\u201d according to the Saints. Carr also turns 35 in March. That said, Carr could benefit from what appears to be a relatively weak free agent quarterback class.<\/p>\n
And if a team wants Carr, the Saints still hold his contractual rights \u2014 meaning the sides would have to hammer out a trade for a deal to happen.<\/p>\n
The saga is far from over.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, here\u2019s what else the Times-Picayune has heard during through various conversations at the league\u2019s busiest convention:<\/p>\n
Taylor mix<\/p>\n
If New Orleans cornerback Alontae Taylor hits the open market once his contract expires in March, as is the current expectation, keep an eye on the Las Vegas Raiders for his services. There would be familiarity there after the Raiders hired Klint Kubiak and retained Joe Woods \u2014 Taylor\u2019s former defensive coordinator \u2014 to be on the new coach\u2019s staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eric Stokes, the Raiders’ No. 1 corner, is also set to be a free agent, and so if Las Vegas can\u2019t re-sign him, its need for a top corner would become even more magnified. But even if Stokes returns, Taylor could slot in at nickel.<\/p>\n
Moore\u2019s staff<\/p>\n
Saints assistant special teams coach Kyle Wilber interviewed for Green Bay\u2019s special-teams coordinator vacancy after the Packers saw Rich Bisaccia surprisingly step down. Though Wilber, a former linebacker, was coached by Bisaccia and worked under him in 2024 in Green Bay, the expectation is that he\u2019s likely to stay with the Saints next season.<\/p>\n
If that happens, it would be yet another sign coach Kellen Moore\u2019s staff is staying almost entirely intact. Jahri Evans remains the lone departure, as the assistant offensive line coach made a lateral jump to the Steelers. The Saints plan to fill Evans\u2019 role soon.<\/p>\n
Training camp buzz<\/p>\n
After spending all of 2024 in California for training camp and nine days out west last year, the Saints are still in the process of sorting out their plans for this year\u2019s camp. It sounds like most of camp will be held at their facility in Metairie, though they could still look to get away for a small portion to bond and escape the heat. The Saints would also like to hold joint practices, ideally both at home and on the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Derek Carr has said publicly that he would come out of retirement for the right situation.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[7,4095,896,55,2572,2571,6,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-777623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-hardwall","10":"tag-new-orleans","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints","12":"tag-neworleans","13":"tag-neworleanssaints","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-saints"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116137230653760971","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}