Kendall Valenzuela covers the recent NFL news and determines the fantasy news spin on Derek Carr's retirement, Matthew Stafford's new deal, and more.

It may be May, but the NFL news cycle can't stop, won't stop churning. Even on Mother's Day weekend. Here's the latest NFL news, putting a fantasy football spin, starting down with cooterdoodle's hometown Saints now searching for a new quarterback. 

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Derek Carr calls it a career

Well, this was definitely not on my bingo card.

On Saturday, news broke that Saints quarterback Derek Carr was retiring from the NFL after 11 seasons. This comes after months of questions about Carr's availability for the 2025 season. According to the Saints, Carr had a labral tear and degenerative rotator cuff damage to his throwing shoulder that was only discovered in late March.

In the team's statement, they said while surgery was an option it would jeopardize the entire 2025 season and there was no guarantee Carr would return to the same level of play.

It's the end of an era—Carr was drafted in the second round by the Oakland Raiders back in 2014, and in nine seasons with Oakland and Las Vegas, he finished with a 63-79 career record. He passed for 35,222 yards and 217 touchdowns alongside 99 interceptions. 

After the Raiders released Carr in February 2023, he signed a four-year, $150 million contract with the New Orleans Saints where he finished with a 14-13 record. He threw for 6,023 yards, 40 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in two seasons. 

According to ESPN, since Drew Brees' 2020 retirement, eight different players have started a game for the Saints, which is the second-most in the NFL behind only the Browns with 11. The Saints did get some quarterback insurance during the 2025 NFL Draft, though, and took Louisville's Tyler Shough with the 40th overall pick. 

New head coach Kellen Moore met with reporters on Saturday and was asked if he sees Shough as the starting quarterback for the upcoming season, but it sounds like it will be a totally open competition between Shough, Spencer Rattler, and Jake Haener …

“We’re going to let all three of these guys roll. They’ve all earned these opportunities. We’ll let Jake, Spencer, and Tyler—all three kind of go through this process.”

Fantasy Life views Shough as the eventual starter, although he still sits at only QB29 in the consensus rankings. Sorry, cooterdoodle …

Matthew Stafford finalizes contract

Earlier this year, Matthew Stafford was definitely the center of trade rumors. The New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders were teams linked to Stafford after the Rams gave him permission to speak to other teams. Eventually the Rams and Stafford agreed to a restructured deal in late February. 

Now, the terms are finalized and we finally have the details. Stafford agreed to a two-year, $84 million deal, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. This is a big increase from the two-year, $58 million the previous contract was going to pay him.

According to reports, Stafford will earn $44 million this season—he's also already been paid $4 million this year, and the $40 million that is left is fully guaranteed. Stafford will be 37 during the 2025 campaign and will earn $40 million next season if he stays as the Rams' starting quarterback. 

While this is a year-to-year situation with Stafford, it feels like the best time to keep an eye on the Rams as a potential team to draft a quarterback next season. There were rumors they were considering a quarterback this year, but next April they will have two first-round picks. Whether Stafford has "a few more good years" in him like head coach Sean McVay said, we know that the Rams offense should have a few more good years in them as well (see what I did there? Hell of a transition).

The Rams are ripe with fantasy game changers and the Davante Adams signing was one of my favorites so far this offseason. I know we can see the age cliff approaching, but once he joined his BFF Aaron Rodgers in New York last year, Adams showed he's anything but washed.

Only Ja'Marr Chase (151.3) and BrIan Thomas Jr. (137.2) scored more fantasy points than Adams (136.6) during the final six weeks of last season.

The thing is, we know that Stafford can support two high-end fantasy receivers. While Adams' arrival isn't the best of news for Puka Nacua, right now at Fantasy Life Nacua is still ranked as the consensus WR4 and is projected for 147 targets. Adams comes in as WR16 in Fantasy Life's rankings and he's projected for 133 targets. 

And we can't forget the new rookie tight end in town! The Rams added Terrance Ferguson to the squad with the 46th overall pick, and with Tyler Higbee entering a contract year (and coming off an injury) Ferguson could be their future at the tight end position. 

Jonathon Brooks out for the 2025 season

Unfortunately, Panthers running back Jonathon Brooks will not see the field this season. The team placed Brooks on the physically unable to perform list, which means he will miss the entire 2025 season. He is recovering from his second ACL injury to his right knee in 13 months.

Fantasy managers were patient with Brooks last season and stashed him away on rosters hoping that he would boom when cleared to play in 2024. While he debuted during the Panthers' Week 12 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, Brooks went down with the same ACL injury. He only managed to play in three games and had nine carries for 22 yards and three receptions for 23 yards.

This means that Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle will hold down Carolina's backfield this season. Hubbard rushed for 1,195 yards on 250 carries with 10 touchdowns last season, averaging 4.8 yards per carry. He also caught 43 of 54 targets for 171 yards with a touchdown. And he put up those numbers in an offense that was 29th in yards per game — and should hopefully improve under another season with Dave Canales. 

Hubbard is Fantasy Life's consensus RB17 and Dowdle sits at RB49. 

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