2025 Departures
Carr, of course, eventually did elect to retire due to his shoulder injury, making his announcement on May 10. Carr's shoulder troubles were a surprise revelation during the offseason, and after his retirement the Saints described the injury as a torn labrum and degeneration to his rotator cuff. It would have required surgery to repair and would have sidelined him for the entire 2025 season.
Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling made his stay in New Orleans a brief one, taking a one-year deal to join the Seahawks. The Saints also have not attempted to re-sign free agent running back Jamaal Williams.
As noted above, Adebo, a former third-round pick who started 51 games over four seasons with the Saints, departed in free agency, taking a three-year $54 million deal with the Giants. Safety Will Harris, another valued starter, also moved to the NFC East, landing a two-year deal with Washington. The Saints also lost a bit of secondary depth with cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles going to Seattle.
Defensive end Payton Turner, who failed to live up to first-round expectations, took a one-year deal in Dallas after starting zero games and recording 5.0 sacks over four seasons with the Saints. Linebacker Willie Gay, who started eight games in New Orleans last season, also left for a one-year contract with the Dolphins.
Other Noteworthy Developments
The Saints have a new head coach after letting Allen go at midseason, and they poached the Eagles' championship staff to take their one-year offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore. Moore has spent the last six seasons as an NFL coordinator with the Cowboys, Chargers and Eagles and he led a Philadelphia attack that finished seventh in points scored in 2024.
Moore brought in a pair of new coordinators, with Doug Nussmeier taking over the offense and Brandon Staley leading the defense. Nussmeier followed Moore over from the Eagles, where he tutored the quarterbacks, the same position he held under Moore in Los Angeles and Dallas. He is a former coordinator on the college level with such powerful programs as Michigan, Florida, Alabama and Washington. Staley got a stint as the Chargers head coach based on his work as a defensive coordinator for the Rams on Sean McVay's staff. This will be the first time since 2014 that Allen is not involved in running the Saints' defense.
Carr's decision to retire rather than have surgery and go on injured reserve also bought the Saints some significant salary cap relief in 2025, as he was due to be paid $30 million. He chose to forego that rather than spend a year on the sideline.
In addition to landing Reid and Cooks, the Saints also were able to fit in a couple big-time contract extensions, re-upping edge rusher Chase Young for three years and $51 million and retaining tight end Juwan Johnson for three years and $30.8 million. To get in salary compliance, the Saints also went through their annual exercise of restructuring veteran contracts, reworking the deals of Carr (later rendered moot besides a $10 million signing bonus), McCoy, Ruiz, Mathieu linebackers Demario Davis and Pete Werner, defensive ends Carl Granderson and Cameron Jordan and defensive tackle Khalen Saunders.
The Saints also elected to exercise their fifth-year option on 2022 first-round pick Chris Olave for the 2026 season. The former Ohio State pass-catcher has been very good when on the field, opening his career with 1,000-yard seasons in 2022 and 2023, but he has sustained a worrisome series of concussions and only played in eight games last year.
Pressing Questions
How will the quarterback depth chart shake out after Derek Carr's sudden retirement?
There was always a good chance that the Saints would move on from Carr and his large salary in 2026, but the manner of his restructure earlier this offseason made it very likely he would still have the job in 2025. That plan had to be scrapped after his retirement, and the Saints will be sorting through a very green depth chart in training camp this summer.
Though he will turn 26 early in his rookie season and has started a lot of games on the collegiate level, Shough still has to adjust to the NFL. Rattler only arrived last year as a fifth-round pick, while Haener is a 2023 fourth-round selection who has played one regular-season game so far. The Saints also added former Iowa State and Iowa Western quarterback Hunter Dekkers as an undrafted rookie.
Shough likely has the pole position to start but Moore said immediately after Carr's retirement announcement that the team would have an open competition and that they would "let all three of these guys roll." Shough played seven years of college football at Oregon, Texas Tech and Louisville, but last year marked the first time he started more than five games in a season. He threw for 3,195 yards, 23 touchdowns and six interceptions and displayed a big arm plus above-average mobility to extend plays.
Can Brandon Staley return the Saints' defense to its usual spot in the top half of league rankings?
Staley spent nearly three seasons (2021-23) as the Chargers' head coach but produced a .500 record and was fired with three games left in the 2023 campaign. He had previously emerged as an innovative mind as the Rams' defensive coordinator, where he directed the number-one unit in the league in 2020. The Chargers, however, never ranked higher than 20th in defense under his tutelage. He spent last season as the 49ers' assistant head coach under Kyle Shanahan.
The Saints still possess some of the pieces that helped the defense land in the league's top seven each season from 2020-22, with only a slight dip to 13th in 2023 before last year's fall. That includes safety Tyrann Mathieu, linebacker Demario Davis and defensive end Cameron Jordan. New Orleans has the potential for a strong defensive front with the continued development of Carl Granderson along with Jordan, Chase Young, Bryan Bresee and Davon Godchaux. Pete Werner has developed into a good complement to Davis in the middle of the defense. The secondary is a bit of a question mark without Marshon Lattimore or Paulson Adebo in the mix anymore, and with Mathieu going into his 13th season but there are some recent high draft picks involved with cornerbacks Kool-Aid McKinstry and Alontae Taylor.