Derek Carr is preparing for a comeback – Bengals may need a savior
The New Orleans Saints lost quarterback Derek Carr ahead of the 2025 National Football League season as he announced his retirement after 11 seasons in the league and four Pro Bowl appearances.
Carr was dealing with a shoulder injury and opted to hang up his cleats opening up the door to the quarterback competition that featured Spencr Rattler, Tyler Shough, and Jake Haener. Rattler won the job and Carr has made some media appearances so far this season.
Recently, Carr, who is just 34 years old, slightly cracked open the door to an NFL return while joining the "Dan Patrick Show."
"I wouldn't say never because I've learned when I say never, then it usually happens," Carr said. "I think we've all probably learned that. For me, right now, I'm training because I love to train. That's going to be the rest of my life. I love to train. I throw a football every now and then in the fornt with my kids and to my buddy for fun because it is part of my rehab still with my shoulder.
"I'm trying to get that back right and getting a shot and doing the rehab and all of that. I'm still doing those things. I always felt like even though I'm done, if God wanted me to do it, I've got to be ready. I don't want to go out there and not be ready. So, I'll be ready. But, I'm not coming back. Right now, today, I'm not coming back."
As the season progresses, it wouldn't be shocking to see his name thrown around simply because of the fact that if he can get healthy, he can help a quarterback-needy team.
Will the former Saints QB return?
"That question reminds me that quarterback needs can change in a hurry -- especially after what the Bengals just showed Monday night," Fowler said. "Got to wonder if Cincinnati evaluates quarterback options if the downward spiral deepens. After Monday night's lifeless outing, Cincinnati now has gained fewer than 200 offensive yards in three of its first four games. The last team to do that was the 2009 Raiders, who rolled out a combination of JaMarcus Russell, Bruce Gradkowski and Charlie Frye at quarterback.
"The Bengals still believe in Jake Browning, who was far from the only culprit in Denver on Monday, but Cincinnati has too much skill position talent to accept the status quo. At some point, it could need reinforcements at the game's most important position. It might be worth calling recently retired Derek Carr to check on how his shoulder injury is healing."
If there's a team that could use a quarterback right now, it would be the Bengals. But, it's important to note that Carr -- although slightly opening the door for a return -- didn't say any return was imminent or even guaranteed. The Bengals could use Carr, but would that be enough to get him back on a field? Plus, there isn't any way to know if his shoulder would be ready to go right now. Cincinnati has a pressing issue. It is likely better suited for a guy who is definitely healthy enough to play, like Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousins.
Bengals fans better hope what Zac Taylor just said in his presser is true
Zac Taylor may have another year on his contract, but the Cincinnati Bengals are unraveling in real time, and his job is very much at stake for the rest of this season.
Taylor is not naive to that reality. This is the NFL, and in the midst of yet another major Joe Burrow injury, he doesn't have anywhere to hide, nor does he have the luxury of a superstar quarterback to bail him out.
Cincinnati has sputtered to two consecutive losses by a combined score of 76-13. If there's going to be a drastic change made to turn things around, however, Taylor indicated in Wednesday's presser that it won't come at the most impactful position on the field.
Zac Taylor fully believes in Bengals QB Jake Browning to spark bounce back on offense
Jake Browning played at a very high level in 2023 when he had to sub in for Burrow, completing 70.4% of his passes en route to a 4-3 record as a starter. Alas, Browning has looked like a shell of that starting-caliber player he appeared to be two seasons ago.
Although Taylor publicly acknowledged that Bengals lead exec Duke Tobin has floated possible candidates to compete with Browning — Russell Wilson, perhaps? — it's likely Cincinnati will roll with its current field general for the foreseeable future.
"I think with every position we're always assessing. That's Duke's job, that's the personnel department — they do a great job of that. Presenting us options when Joe went down of other guys we can bring in the room as well. So we thoroughly exhaust that. I've got a ton of confidence in Jake. I'm unwavering in that. I've seen the best of Jake. I know that we can do a great job supporting him to where he can go win games for us. So I feel extremely confident in Jake Browning."
"I've got a ton of confidence in Jake. I'm unwavering in that." - Zac Taylor makes it clear he believes in Jake Browning. pic.twitter.com/08Wc7ZZz74
— James Rapien (@JamesRapien) October 1, 2025
The key part of Taylor's impassioned monologue comes from his faith in the Bengals doing enough around Browning to continue delivering victories. That means Taylor himself will have to scheme up some clever ways to get that done.
Here's the issue there's no proof whatsoever over the past two weeks that Taylor is capable of such things. Despite his successful history with Browning under center, Taylor has done very little to inspire confidence in Who Dey Nation
One massive, persistent issue entering Sunday's Week 5 duel with the visiting Detroit Lions is the complete lack of a viable rushing attack. Detroit allows less than four yards per carry. Bad news for the home team.
Bengals run game🔥 pic.twitter.com/gxyV5Uv5L0
— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) September 29, 2025
Chase Brown is averaging just 2.3 yards per carry, and Taylor has done nothing to diversify the game plan or manufacture carries for other players. Might be just me, but it sure seems like deploying Ja'Marr Chase on the occasional jet sweep could be a dynamic wrinkle to add to the call sheet!
Cincinnati's offensive line continues to be a major weakness, too. Some of that is on Taylor putting Browning in shotgun so often and putting the Bengals' blockers in a lot of tough spots via true pass sets. Defenses have had free rein to tee off on the one-dimensional Bengals offense.
For Taylor's statement to be proven true, it's on him to get Browning more easy completions, establish the run better via Brown, and get way more out of the immensely gifted group of skill position players than he has in 2025 to date.
Otherwise, to invoke Burrow in a humorous way so as to avoid me weeping to myself for the rest of the day, this season is Joe-ver.
