Alex Smith reflects on the new rookie QB landscape
Alex Smith says the current college quarterback landscape has made rookie QBs’ transition to the NFL easier than 20 years ago.
Sports Seriously
Perhaps it should not have come as a shock given the developments of recent weeks, but New Orleans Saints QB Derek Carr’s decision to retire from the NF still landed as at least something of a surprise given its finality along with the finally revealed physical circumstances which the 34-year-old passer has been coping with lately.
“Upon reflection of prayer, and in discussion with Heather, I’ve decided to retire from the National Football League,” Carr said in a statement distributed by the Saints while referencing his wife.
“For more than 11 years, we have been incredibly blessed, and we are forever grateful and humbled by this experience. It’s difficult to find the right words to express our thanks to all the teammates, coaches, management, ownership, team officials and especially the fans who made this journey so special. Your unwavering support has meant the world to us.”
While wishing Carr the best as his post-football journey perhaps prematurely begins, it must also be acknowledged that his departure will have ramifications that range more broadly than New Orleans. Your winners and losers from Carr’s retirement:
WINNERS
Tyler Shough
The Saints’ second-round pick last month, the rookie quarterback seemed to have the inside track to start in 2025 given what were already apparent doubts about Carr’s availability for the upcoming season. Now – barring a disastrous offseason or unexpected surge from Jake Haener or Spencer Rattler – Shough, 25, seems almost certain to attain QB1 status quickly in the Big Easy. He enters the NFL following a seven-year college career often interrupted by injuries but started a personal best 12 games for Louisville in 2024. He’s smart, mature and has a big arm, traits that should give him a shot to stick – especially given how much Rattler and Haener have struggled thus far early on in their own NFL careers.
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Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers
The NFC South has long been ruled by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who won the Super Bowl following the 2020 season and have finished atop the division every year since. But led by promising young coaches and quarterbacks, Atlanta and Carolina now see their chances to compete for the divisional throne – or maybe even qualify as surprise NFC wild cards in 2025 – increase given the Saints, who have averaged 7.5 wins per season since QB Drew Brees retired four years ago, have suddenly been thrust into something of a shotgun rebuild.
Arch Manning?
Just sayin’. Speculation had already been running amok as it pertained to NFL teams potentially jockeying for draft position to get the presumed University of Texas star, who’s still only thrown 63 passes for the Longhorns. But this is what happens to football royalty when you’re the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, who combined to win four Super Bowls during their illustrious NFL careers. However there’s an added layer of intrigue if the Saints absolutely crater in 2025, which seemed entirely possible anyway before Carr’s announcement given the aftermath of a 5-12 season in 2024 when he started 10 games. Now, just imagine if they secure the No. 1 pick in 2026, Arch Manning has the type of season in Austin everyone seems to expect and has the option to go home to his native New Orleans and revive the team his grandfather, Archie Manning, played so bravely but futilely for in the 1970s.
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Aaron Rodgers?
Hey, look who might have an alternative job option in 2025!
LOSERS
Aaron Rodgers
But much as you could argue that New Orleans offense might have more upward potential than the Steelers’ – not to mention the Superdome’s ideal playing conditions – little expectation Rodgers or the Saints would join forces just so they could go back to winning eight or nine games.
Saints veterans
Even since Brees hung up his cleats and former coach Sean Payton “retired,” longtime GM Mickey Loomis has continued to operate as if the Saints were just a move or two from reclaiming their former perch atop the NFC South. But not only has that not happened, this roster is jammed with aging veterans like DL Cam Jordan, LB Demario Davis, S Tyrann Mathieu, WR Brandin Cooks and RB Alvin Kamara. It’s worth wondering if Loomis might look to trade any of these players – and maybe some will ask out – given this finally appears to be the time to collect future draft capital and perhaps tidy up a salary cap already loaded with dead money given the way this organization tends to do business.
Kellen Moore
A few months ago, he earned a Super Bowl ring – in New Orleans – as the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator. Now Moore can openly face what will definitively be daunting circumstances during his maiden gig as a head coach. And maybe having the certainty from Carr’s decision more appropriately sets expectations for him and the fan base. But even if better days lie ahead in 2026 and beyond, there’s obvious potential for short-term pain for one of the league’s better young play-callers – whose most important job for now might be holding this team together amid the inevitable doubt that will surround it.
Derek Carr
This isn’t how any proud football player – especially a four-time Pro Bowler who was the face of the Raiders for nearly a decade before trying to reignite the Saints – wants to go out. There has also been rampant speculation about Carr’s motives in recent weeks given the odd timing of when his injury suddenly came to light before the draft. The Saints revealed Saturday that after Carr experienced shoulder pain as he began his preparations for the upcoming season that “medical scans determined objectively that Derek sustained a labral tear and also had significant degenerative changes to his rotator cuff. … Surgery was an option, jeopardizing the entire 2025 season, yet there was no guarantee Derek would return to the level of strength, function and performance of play to which he was accustomed.”
Which is to say, major bummer, to put it lightly, for Carr. A second-round pick of the then-Oakland Raiders in 2014, he played exceedingly well on a lot of bad Silver and Black squads and helped with the franchise’s 2020 transition to Las Vegas. He retires as owner of most of the Raiders’ significant passing records, though only played in one playoff game – a loss at Cincinnati three years ago. Still, a commendable career, if one Carr doubtless would have chose to end under vastly different circumstances.
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