There’s always room for improved quarterback play in the NFL. That said, could former Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr return to the sport if a team looking for a boost under center gives him a call?
“Would I do it? Yes,” Carr said about a potential NFL return on his podcast, which Carr co-hosts with his brother and former NFL quarterback David Carr. “Would I do it for anybody? Absolutely not. … I have to be healthy, and I’d want a chance to win a Super Bowl. Obviously, that’s a tough thing to find. That’s hard to do.
“That’s not easy. … I had to say no [to teams] a couple of times, so far.”
David Carr noted that he “knows” his younger brother is healthy.
Could that team be the Minnesota Vikings, who missed the playoffs after letting Sam Darnold walk in free agency and saw first-year starter and former first-round pick J.J. McCarthy struggle in his first season under center? The Pittsburgh Steelers if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t return? The Atlanta Falcons if their new regime doesn’t believe in former first-round pick Michael Penix Jr.?
Derek Carr, a four-time Pro Bowler, retired from the NFL last year. This came in the wake of him suffering a “labral tear” and “significant degenerative changes to his rotator cuff.” The quarterback’s 2024 campaign with the Saints was also cut short in Week 14 due to a hand injury and sidetracked by an oblique issue earlier in the season.
The still-34-year-old Derek Carr spent the first nine seasons of his NFL career with the Raiders (2014-22), who selected him with the No. 36 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft out of Fresno State.
Among Derek Carr’s highlights with the Raiders, he finished third in 2016 NFL MVP voting, completed 70.4% of his passes in 2019 and threw a career-high 4,804 yards in 2021. As for his franchise standing, he’s first in Raiders history with 35,222 passing yards, 217 passing touchdowns and a 91.8 passer rating (among full-time quarterbacks) and second with 63 wins as a starter.
The Raiders benched Derek Carr for the final two games of the 2022 regular season, reportedly citing the injury guarantee in his contract, and he was later released.
He signed a four-year, $150 million deal with the Saints in 2023. New Orleans went 9-8 in his first season with the franchise (2023) but missed the playoffs and then went 5-5 in the games he started in 2024.
