Saturday morning, the New Orleans Saints and Derek Carr announced the quarterback will be retiring from the NFL in light of a shoulder injury that would have likely required surgery and a year off recovering for him to stay in active playing shape.

The Saints now have three relatively inexperienced quarterbacks on their roster: Spencer Rattler (six career starts), Jake Haener (one career start) and Tyler Shough (rookie). It appears as if, before drafting Shough in the second round, the Saints did not have full clarity on the situation with Carr, though it did appear likely his 2025 was in jeopardy.

With Carr off the depth chart, perhaps New Orleans may want to look at who is available in the open market, especially with some cap relief in hand after the retirement. A rebuild around a young quarterback would also be reasonable, but general manager Mickey Loomis has preferred to remain competitive in his build of the team, especially in the post-Drew Brees era. For the time being, sportsbooks don't love the chances that New Orleans will stage a very competitive team in 2025.

Aaron Rodgers, of course, remains available as a free agent after parting ways with the Jets. Fans were quickly drawing that line between a potentially available roster spot and him:

Another possibility that could be considered is Kirk Cousins, who remains a member of the Atlanta Falcons, but is firmly behind Michael Penix Jr. in the depth chart. It's long been speculated he could be available in a trade to a QB-needy team, but it's difficult (though not unheard of) to see the Falcons engaging with a division rival in the Saints to get a deal done.

One thing is for sure: The shocking news of Carr's retirement immediately makes the quarterback room in New Orleans a more interesting predicament moving forward.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Derek Carr's Retirement Led to Plenty of Aaron Rodgers Jokes .

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