New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr said he and the team have been in communication regarding his shoulder injury this offseason.
Carr confirmed his injury during a guest sermon at Church LV in Las Vegas over the weekend. It was the first time Carr had spoken about his shoulder since news of a potential issue was made public on April 11, three days before the Saints began Phase 1 of their voluntary offseason workout program.
Carr criticized ESPN and media outlets, along with social media, for speculating about the nature of his injury.
“I have an MRI report to prove it. The team knows about it, we’ve been in constant communication,” Carr said. “There’s nothing wrong, we’re figuring it out and we’re gonna go forward with that.”
Carr has not been at the Saints facility since the offseason program began, but said he and his wife Heather had planned to fly to New Orleans earlier in the offseason. He said that Heather had been experiencing a health issue and had a miscarriage around the time of their scheduled trip.
“I say all that to say, let’s be people that don’t judge and point out and just think the worst when you don’t really know what people are going through, Amen? And so, we’ve been taking care of our family. If it’s going to be faith, family, football, it’s going to be faith, family, football, no matter what the situation is,” Carr said.
Carr’s confirmation of the injury came a few days after the Saints drafted quarterback Tyler Shough with their second-round pick this year.
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said “it’s going to be a competition” when discussing Shough’s role, but when asked to clarify if that competition would be against a healthy Carr, Loomis stuck to the status quo.
“Yeah, I mean, Derek’s the starter,” Loomis said after the NFL draft on Saturday night.