Nobody saw this coming... After two years playing quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, former Pro Bowl signal-caller Derek Carr decided to hang up the spikes and retire. He spent the bulk of his career at Fresno State with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders. Neither team he played for did a ton of winning, but Carr leaves behind a compelling NFL legacy, one that encapsulates good and bad.
In a feature with Front Office Sports, Carr let it be known to David Rumsey that he has no interest in suiting up for anybody anymore. His decision to retire was all about dealing with an injury that required surgery, as well as the ethical dilemma of taking another dime from a team he was never going to play for again. There is a chance he will follow his brother David into a career in the media.
Carr painted it bluntly that he did not want to have surgery and did not want to take the Saints' money.
“That part was tough because I didn’t want to have surgery and just sit there and—it sounds crazy but—just take the Saints money."
Carr explained that surgery would have kept him out all season and he may not get back to healthy.
"I wouldn’t have been able to play if I had the surgery. And then if I tried to play with it, I wasn’t near 100 percent, and so that doesn’t help them, either. I just felt like it was the right thing to do for myself and for the team.”
He finished his point on the topic of retirement by saying that he never played football for the money.
“I never played just for the money. I had a whole bunch of people tell me how crazy I was, and ‘Man, I would never have done that.’ That’s all cool, but I’ve gained all these things that the world has to offer, and it doesn’t really do anything for your heart. I knew my heart was at peace, and that’s really all that mattered.”
By retiring this offseason, Carr gave up $30 million in salary, but did keep his $10 million roster bonus.
Now that Derek Carr has retired, what is next for the Pro Bowl QB?
Carr did talk about potentially getting in front of the microphone, just like his older brother did after his career wound down. Carr mentioned that talking about football comes naturally over time. The NFL Network has constantly asked his older brother about "when Derek's gonna come down and do a show with us." They have recently launched a YouTube channel called the Home Grown Network.
While Carr envisions himself going more into the media in the college football front, he has plenty of other business ventures to be had. Even when he was with the Raiders, he was highly ambitious in that regard. Along with his brother, they helped secure a naming rights deal for Fresno State's football stadium. Carr also mentioned that he could potentially get into coaching football down the line, too.
With more money than he could ever hope to spend, the world is Carr's oyster outside of playing quarterback for the Raiders or Saints. I think him being a Fresno State alum is a huge deal for the Bulldogs program. He is a man of faith, so he may go in that direction as well. Overall, Carr seems to be at peace about not playing another down of football in his career. He played hard, so take it easy.
Carr will always have my respect for how he thrived in a chaotic situation while playing for the Raiders.