The Saints haven’t officially ruled quarterback Derek Carr or running back Alvin Kamara out for Monday night’s game yet, but it looks like things are moving in that direction.
Carr and Kamara missed practice for the second straight day. Carr remains sidelined by the left hand injury he suffered in the team’s Week 14 win over the Giants and Kamara has a groin injury that interim head coach Darren Rizzi said may bring an end to his season.
Rookie Spencer Rattler will start if Carr can’t go and Kendre Miller would be in line for more work at running back.
Wide receivers Bub Means (ankle) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (chest, illness) made it four offensive players out of practice. Defensive end Chase Young (illness) has also been out both days this week.
Tight end Juwan Johnson (foot) and wide receiver Chris Olave (head) were limited participants. Olave returned to practice this week and would need to be activated from injured reserve in order to play on Monday.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said on Tuesday that the team will give linebacker Quay Walker the entire week to see if he can play through an ankle injury, but things aren’t moving in the right direction for Green Bay.
Walker missed practice for the second straight day on Friday. The Packers will practice again on Saturday and issue injury designations for Monday night’s game against the Saints.
Safety Javon Bullard is also dealing with an ankle injury and he’s the only other member of the team to miss both days of practice.
Cornerback Corey Ballentine (knee) and tight end Luke Musgrave (ankle) were limited participants for the Packers. Musgrave will need to be activated from injured reserve in order to play.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara appears unlikely to play on Monday night in Green Bay, and it’s unclear whether he will play again this season.
New Orleans interim head coach Darren Rizzi said today that the groin injury Kamara suffered on Sunday is significant, and the Saints don’t know when he’ll be back.
“The situation with Alvin right now, it was probably a little more significant than we initially thought. He’s week-to-week at the moment. I’m going to be honest, it doesn’t look great for this week,” Rizzi said. “We’ll see if it’s going to be multiple weeks. He doesn’t look great for this week.”
Realistically, the Saints could be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention this week, and if that happens it’s hard to believe they’d rush Kamara back from an injury. It’s possible that Kamara’s season is over.
Starting quarterback Derek Carr did not practice again Thursday as he works his way back from a left hand injury. It seems likely he will miss a second consecutive game with his injury, but the Saints have not ruled him out this week.
Interim coach Darren Rizzi said Thursday that Spencer Rattler will start if Carr can’t play.
Rattler started the three games Carr missed earlier in the season when the starter had an oblique injury.
But Jake Haener got the start Sunday against the Commanders. Rattler replaced him after Haener went 4-of-10 for 49 yards and an interception in the first half.
Rattler was 10-of-21 for 135 yards and a touchdown in the second half of the 20-19 loss to Washington.
In four games this season, the fifth-round draft pick has 706 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Saints have signed free agent running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, the team announced. Edwards-Helaire will start on the team’s practice squad, which also gives him flexibility to go elsewhere if a contender has a running back injury.
The team cut defensive tackle Kendal Vickers from the practice squad in a corresponding move.
The Chiefs cut Edwards-Helaire earlier this week, and he cleared waivers.
The Saints have Alvin Kamara, Jamaal Williams, Kendre Miller and Jordan Mims on the active roster at the position.
The Chiefs made Edwards-Helaire a first-round draft pick in 2020, and he won two Super Bowl rings with the team. His production, though, declined every year, and this season he wasn’t active for a single regular-season game.
Edwards-Helaire last played a game in the Super Bowl when he saw action on four snaps.
With Kirk Cousins heading to the bench in Atlanta, it’s safe to say his time with the team is over. Unless Michael Penix Jr. suffers a serious injury down the stretch — or unless the Falcons can’t trade Cousins in the offseason and decide to keep him as the backup — he’ll be elsewhere in 2025.
As we pointed out many times after the Falcons shocked the football-following world and used the eighth overall pick not on a player who would help Cousins win but on his eventual replacement, the front-loaded deal gives them an easy out after one year. If, that is, he’s willing to waive his no-trade clause.
The Falcons will pay Cousins $62.5 million for 2024. Cousins has a fully-guaranteed salary of $27.5 million for 2025, with another $10 million that becomes fully guaranteed in 2026 on the fifth day of the 2025 league year. As veteran quarterbacks go, $27.5 million is less than the top of the current market, which hit $60 million with the Dak Prescott deal.
It’s also possible the Falcons would pay some of the money to facilitate a trade.
First, someone has to want to trade for Cousins. Based on his performance this year, that might not be a given. Father Time quite possibly did what he inevitably does to all players after Cousins threw four touchdown passes on November 3 against the Cowboys. In five games since, he has one touchdown pass and nine interceptions. His passer rating has fallen under 80 in each of those games.
Second, Cousins has to be willing to waive his no-trade clause. Maybe he’ll dig in his heels, happily taking $27.5 million to be Penix’s backup in 2025 and otherwise daring the Falcons to cut him.
A trade before June 1 would trigger a 2025 cap charge of $37.5 million. That’s still lower than his $40 million cap number for next year, and it saves $27.5 million in cash.
Cutting him with a post-June 1 designation would trigger a $40 million charge, but the Falcons would get credit for whatever he earns elsewhere, even if it’s only the league minimum.
Not many teams will be looking for a starter in the offseason. The current candidates are the Jets, Browns (if they can get him cheap), Steelers (if they don’t re-sign Russell Wilson or Justin Fields), Titans, Raiders, Giants, Saints, and perhaps the Seahawks.
Then there’s the 49ers. With Brock Purdy not ascending the way many had hoped, coach Kyle Shanahan might finally reunite with the player that Kyle and his father, Mike, drafted in 2012 as the insurance policy to Robert Griffin III.
Finally, don’t rule out the Rams. Cousins is still a younger option than Matthew Stafford, and coach Sean McVay (who like Shanahan worked with Cousins in Washington) has high regard for Cousins.
Two years ago, the Raiders benched quarterback Derek Carr before he could suffer an injury that would trigger $40 million in guarantees for the next year.
The Saints might end up wishing they’d done the same thing.
Carr’s current deal pays out $40 million in 2025. Of that amount, $10 million is fully guaranteed. Another $30 million is guaranteed for injury. It becomes fully guaranteed in March.
If Carr can’t pass a physical by the date on which the injury guarantee becomes fully guaranteed, the Saints can’t avoid the $30 million.
Given that he’s currently injured — and in light of recently conflicting messages on whether he will or won’t be cleared by the end of the season — it’s time to start wondering whether a fight will unfold in fewer than three months as to whether he’s cleared.
It could come down to a grievance, with the Saints saying he’s fine and Carr saying he’s not. And $30 million would be riding on it.
The question becomes whether one or both sides want to play hardball. The Saints in theory could decide to keep Carr and pay him the $40 million; however, the next coach might want someone else at the game’s most important position.
The point for now is this. Between the left hand injury (it’s fractured in two places) and the concussion, the Saints need both conditions to resolve by the date in March on which the injury guarantee becomes a full guarantee. If it doesn’t, they’ll be stuck with another $30 million in cash obligations to Carr in 2025.
In the end, it could be that the Saints say the injuries are healed and Carr says they aren’t and an arbitrator will figure it all out, with $30 million hanging in the balance.
Coming off of Sunday’s victory over the Seahawks, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur had updates on a couple of defensive players in his Tuesday press conference.
Linebacker Quay Walker is considered week-to-week after suffering an ankle injury during Sunday’s contest. LaFleur noted that the team will give Walker the week to see if he can play in Week 16.
LaFleur also noted that safety Javon Bullard is moving around better after missing the Week 15 contest with an ankle injury. Bullard did not practice last week before he was ruled out before the contest.
Playing the Saints on Monday night, the Packers’ first injury report of the week will be issued on Thursday.
There’s some new reporting pouring cold water on Saints interim head coach Darren Rizzi’s assertion that it’s not “a reach” to think Derek Carr will be cleared by the end of the season.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Carr is considered “very unlikely” to return this season.
Carr’s left hand is fractured in two places. Rapoport notes the quarterback recently underwent further examination, which determined he’s at least a few weeks away from withstanding contact.
Given that there are only three weeks remaining in the season, Carr isn’t likely to return.
In his second season with the Saints, Carr has completed 67.7 percent of his passes for 2,145 yards with 15 touchdowns and five interceptions in 10 games.
The last time the Vikings made the playoffs, their defense was abysmal. Fast forward two years, and it has become formidable.
The credit for the transformation goes entirely to defensive coordinator, and three-year Dolphins head coach, Brian Flores.
And so it’s time to ask the question. Will Flores get a second chance to coach a team of his own?
His skills are undeniable. The problem is that he has a lawsuit pending against the NFL and four of its teams — Dolphins, Giants, Broncos, and Texans. It’s not supposed to matter. But in a small industry with 32 branches operating under the auspices of Big Shield, it’s hard to imagine anyone being willing to break ranks and do the right thing.
Maybe the lawsuit won’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. Plenty of people think it’s fair game to shun an employee who has sued the company. It’s not. Retaliation for advancing a legal grievance isn’t permitted.
It still happens. Look at last year. After Flores turned the defense around in 2023, he didn’t get a single interview. Despite eight vacancies.
This year, it might depend on the number of openings. There are two candidates regarded as no-brainers to get offers — Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and former Titans coach (and current Browns assistant) Mike Vrabel. Flores is as qualified as anyone else.
If not more.
The criticism from Tua Tagovailoa shouldn’t matter. Yes, it can be a convenient pretext for ignoring Flores. But owners either want to win, or they don’t. They either want to do the right thing, or they don’t.
The right thing would be to ignore the litigation and give Flores a fair shot. At a time when some think Jon Gruden might get another chance, why shouldn’t Flores?
Like Flores, Gruden has a pending lawsuit against the league. Unlike Flores, Gruden did something that justified his current status.
We’ll see what happens. We’ll see if anyone has the courage to risk a cold shoulder, or worse, from 345 Park Avenue and one or more (or maybe most) of their business partners.
Again, it’s simple. Either you want to win. Or you don’t.
Either you want to do the right thing. Or you don’t.
