NFL Personnel Reportedly See Derek Carr Injury as 'Fishy,' HC Calls It 'Trade Bait'

Word emerged last Friday that New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr is dealing with a shoulder injury that could eventually lead to surgery and threaten his 2025 season, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

This news story apparently has caught the attention of people around the league who think there's more to this than meets the eye, with the terms "fishy" and "trade bait" being thrown around.

The Athletic's Dianna Russini, who previously spoke about the matter on the Scoop City podcast, went on the The Herd With Colin Cowherd to discuss it further.

Russini noted that Carr has dealt with shoulder injuries for some time but further added that the team restructured his deal (in essence, the restructure "ties the quarterback to the Saints for at least the 2025 season," per ESPN's Katherine Terrell). And because of that, Russini noted that the Saints must have figured there wouldn't be any issues for Carr's availability this year.

Russini then added:

"So Friday, the news comes out that Derek Carr may miss this season and I have to tell you, I immediately started getting text messages from people around the league with, 'hey, this is fishy' or I had one head coach say, 'trade bait.'

"Right? There's more to this story, so I did some digging on it, and I do think Derek Carr has a shoulder situation going on. I don't think he's lying about it. I don't think he's putting this out there. This is not who Derek Carr is as a human being. He's got high character.

"But I just think it's peculiar. And I think the team thinks it's peculiar. I reached out to some people with the Saints when this all was happening, and they knew of it, meaning they knew something strange was boiling. Derek Carr was looking to possibly get out of New Orleans after [ex-head coach Dennis Allen] was fired, and I just don't think he wants to be there anymore."

Russini added that she believes the Saints are looking to add a quarterback in this draft but not with their top choice (No. 9 overall), pointing to them perhaps going "best player available" and/or going pass-rush to re-do their defensive front.

Regarding the shoulder issue itself, the Saints apparently knew about it, per Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football.

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated later added more information.

"The Saints knew about this shoulder issue," Breer noted. "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."

Obviously, the first hope is for Carr to get fully healed, or return as close as possible to 100 percent. In the interim, this is a "peculiar" situation to say the least, as the Saints appear in some sort of quarterback limbo right now with the draft one week away. It's an interesting way for new head coach Kellen Moore's era to begin in town to say the least.