No clarity from Mickey Loomis on Derek Carr situation

Mickey Loomis was forced to address the media Wednesday because the NFL mandates that every team holds a pre-draft press conference. But the Saints general manager warned that he wasn’t going to offer any more clarity on quarterback Derek Carr’s situation – then delivered on his promise for the better part of 30 minutes.

“He does have an issue with his shoulder. We’re hoping to get some resolution and clarity on that in the near future. And when we do, I’ll report back to you. Otherwise I don’t have anything more to state about Derek,” Loomis said in an opening statement before he went on to answer all Carr-related questions with answers like, “I’m just not gonna answer any more questions about Derek.”

One of Loomis’ non-answers arguably stood out above the others. When asked if the Saints’ starting quarterback for 2025 is currently on their roster, Loomis responded, “I'm not gonna answer that question because that'll just lead to a bunch of speculation whichever way I answer it.”

Technically that could’ve been a “Gotcha” moment since about 25 other GMs around the league would answer yes to that question.

But then again, this is also one day before the draft – so Loomis always tries his best to give non-answers during this annual press conference that looks more like the Tyson-Paul fight. So he wasn’t exactly going to reply with, “No, and we desperately need to acquire one by the end of this week!”

However, I would argue that Loomis’ approach on Wednesday still said a lot. This was an opportunity for him to defuse the rampant speculation that has spread since we first publicly found out about Carr’s shoulder injury two weeks ago. If Loomis had answered, “Derek is going to be fine,” or “We’re hoping Derek can be healthy by the start of training camp,” or even, “We’re waiting on a second opinion, but Derek is in jeopardy of missing this season,” then maybe he could have conveyed that the two sides are aligned and working together.

Instead, Loomis stated that they’re “hoping for some resolution and clarity,” which will keep us all wondering if there is a divide between the player and team along with the injury issue itself.

Loomis did give one answer about how Carr’s situation affects the Saints’ draft process that I believe was genuine:

“I don't think the draft approach for us is any different than it would be in any year,” Loomis said. “You know, we're looking for as many good players, great players as we can find.”

That makes sense considering that Carr just turned 34 years old last month and is scheduled to make a non-guaranteed $50 million in 2026 – which essentially makes this the last year of his current contract. So the Saints already should have made it an urgent priority to find his potential successor, and they were already doing as much due diligence on this year’s QB prospects as any team in the league.

Based on all of our reporting, we’d still be surprised to see that next QB get drafted with the No. 9 pick. But later in Round 1 is certainly in play – either via trading down from 9 or up from 40, with Louisville’s Tyler Shough the prospect we have our eyes on most.

Loomis said the fact that the Saints drafted Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener in the last two drafts won’t affect their approach much either.

Loomis spoke in generalities about how the Saints are always on the lookout for good quarterbacks in the draft, which was also true when Drew Brees was in his 30s – but that the biggest danger is “overdrafting” a player at that position.

“You always want to take swings and develop the position. That's good business,” Loomis said. “I think the thing that you have to really resist is overdrafting and taking someone way sooner because that's opportunity cost, right? If we take somebody way sooner than maybe we should have … we missed out on whatever player who ended up being in the Pro Bowl or whatever it is.”

Loomis said typically the quarterbacks that you “love” wind up going in the “top seven or eight or 10 picks.”

“That doesn't mean you can't find a really good quarterback later,” Loomis said. “Just more often later it's more speculative and there's more development that's required.”

So when asked if you have to “love” a QB to draft one or if you can “really like” him, Loomis said, “Depends on where you’re drafting.”

“I think if you're drafting up really high, you better love them,” Loomis said.