News broke early Saturday morning that New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr has retired from the NFL after 11 years in the league. The Saints are now at a crossroads regarding the direction of the franchise. Their season will either be in the hands of second-round quarterback Tyler Shough or 2024 fifth-round selection Spencer Rattler. Now, it’s also possible that New Orleans decides to sign a veteran quarterback, but that wouldn’t be ideal, considering the Saints need to get younger and build through youth and the draft. Below, we will examine the two options on the roster and explore the overall fantasy football impact of Derek Carr’s retirement.
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Fantasy Football Impact Of Derek Carr’s Retirement
Tyler Shough
An interesting quarterback who rose in the 2025 draft and took many by surprise when being selected with the 40th overall pick by the New Orleans Saints, Shough had a journey in college after multiple injuries and missing games after a broken fibula and collarbone. The former Louisville Cardinal finished 2024 with 3,195 passing yards, 23 touchdowns, and only six interceptions, and he has some intangibles that scouts love.
However, age and injuries are a concern, and Shough had some inconsistent performances at Louisville. Limited high-level experience is also a concern, and having fewer than 27 starts in seven college seasons raises questions about whether Shough can handle a full NFL season. Still, taking a flyer on Shough in later rounds is a solid value for fantasy purposes, especially in Superflex Dynasty formats. If Shough hits a home run, you have a solid QB2 on your roster.
Spencer Rattler
Rattler was a top prospect when he played quarterback at Oklahoma. After losing his starting job to Caleb Williams, who is now the quarterback for the Chicago Bears and was the first-overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, Rattler has a chance to redeem himself in New Orleans. Rattler threw for 10,807 yards and 77 touchdowns with 32 interceptions over a 48-game span in college. The former Gamecock also got to see some playing time in for the Saints in 2024 after Derek Carr went down for a few games; he threw for 1,317 yards, four touchdowns, and five interceptions.
Rattler has a big arm and is effective when he is mobile. However, some inconsistencies need to be polished in his game. Decision-making is one of those inconsistencies, but the Saints in 2024 were inconsistent as a franchise. They fired their head coach and replaced him with a special-teams coach. The offensive line was injured, the defense gave up a lot of yards, the wide receivers were injured, and Rattler was a rookie after all. One can only imagine how hard it would be to have high expectations for a rookie quarterback to succeed in such circumstances. For fantasy appeal, Rattler is a quarterback you can leave off your Redraft teams, but for Dynasty, I would keep him around on the taxi squad.
Conclusion
The Saints are in a better situation now because they officially understand that a rebuild is happening with Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler competing at the quarterback position. Now, which one wins? Only time will tell. This competition is going to be a lot closer than most think, and both players could have fantasy value this season. Both quarterbacks have had interesting paths to get to where they are now, but overall, with the Derek Carr news breaking early Saturday morning, Saints fans can finally embrace the rebuild that this franchise has been longing for.
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