New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr was sacked by Rashan Gary on a 3rd-and-9 and was in obvious pain on the ground. What do we know about Carr’s injury, and what does this mean for the Saints?
Derek Carr Injury Update
Gary wrapped up and slammed Carr onto the ground very hard on a third-down sack in the third quarter. He was able to eventually walk off the field, but the Saints’ training staff was looking at the quarterback’s right arm as he got up.
#DerekCarr to locker room for likely throwing shoulder injury. https://t.co/JtoWmW7Mmk pic.twitter.com/9aymXa7vav
— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) September 24, 2023
The training staff led Carr to the locker room following the injury. Former first-overall pick Jameis Winston takes over for Carr in the Saints offense. New Orleans added Winston back to the roster in 2023 on a one-year, $4 million deal with a lot of cap ramifications leading until 2027.
New Orleans favored Andy Dalton a season ago, but in 2021, Winston was 5-2 as the Saints starter, and he was playing some of the best football of his career.
Through two games with New Orleans, Carr is 2-0, completing 44 of 69 passing attempts for 533 yards, a TD, and two INTs.
Update 2:55 PM ET
According to New Orleans Football’s Nick Underhill, Carr is questionable to return with a shoulder injury. Stacy Dales reported that Carr was receiving an X-ray in the locker room. Underhill later tweeted that he expects Carr to miss some time, based on what he’s hearing about the injury.
Update 3:15 PM
Carr is ruled out for the rest of the Saints’ game against the Packers.
Update 4:01 PM
Ian Rapoport tweeted that Carr is being taken to a local hospital to run additional tests. They will be checking for internal injuries, among other injuries.
Update 6:24 PM
Carr appears to have avoided a long-term injury, per NFL Network. He’s believed to have suffered a sprained AC joint. Carr will miss time, but this is not a season-ending issue.
Derek Carr Injury Fantasy Fallout
Prior to being shaken up in the third quarter, Carr went 13 of 18 for 103 yards and a score. There is a chance that Taysom Hill could see some more snaps from the QB position for the rest of the contest against the Green Bay Packers.
Carr’s trip to the locker room, combined with a 17-0 lead for the Saints at the time of his exit, doesn’t exactly bode well for the fantasy outlook for the rest of New Orleans’ pass catchers for the remainder of this contest.
Saints receivers — namely Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, and Rashid Shaheed — will take a slight move down the weekly rankings if Carr misses significant time with this shoulder injury.