Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Former NFL quarterback Derek Carr claims teams are reaching out to him, but his strict criteria to unretire make a real return highly unlikely.
- Carr demands a Super Bowl contender, but available open starting jobs are gone. His only realistic path is signing as an injury replacement.
- These unrealistic demands, paired with a year away from football, essentially confirm Carr's playing days in the NFL are officially over.
Usually when we have "will he or won't he retire" situations in the NFL, it involves an active NFL quarterback who played the previous season but who is getting up there in age and is being wishy-washy about whether he wants to come back. That player is usually named something like "Aaron Rodgers" or "Brett Favre."
But now we have a more unique situation this offseason: players who are already retired who tease coming back. Rumors of Aaron Donald returning to the Los Angeles Rams have swirled for a while, but there's another player who keeps saying he might return in the right situation: former Raiders and Saints quarterback Derek Carr. The problem? This "right situation" might not actually exist.
Derek Carr is not going to find his mythical dream scenario
On Friday, Carr said on Good Morning Football that teams have reached out to him about playing this season. He didn't name names, but he indicated that none of them were the perfect situation for him.
What is that perfect situation? The same thing it was when he teased this idea of unretiring back in March. He wants to go somewhere where he can win a Super Bowl. Back then, I wrote about five teams that could be options for him: Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Houston, with the latter being in the unlikely scenario where the Texans traded C.J. Stroud this offseason. Well...they didn't, and the other four teams all signed or re-signed veteran quarterbacks, which leaves Carr without any real option.
Unless he's willing to take a backup role, the only scenario available to him at this point is signing with a contender if their quarterback goes down via injury during the season, kind of like the Colts did with Philip Rivers last season, a move that, uhh...didn't really work out in favor of the Colts.
Would a team bring Carr in off the street, forcing him to learn a whole new system? He played relatively well in 2024 for the Saints, but Carr was also never as good as Rivers. If a true Super Bowl contender loses its quarterback in, say, Week 10, how many would realistically even turn to Carr?
I just took a glance at some depth charts, and the answer to that question is, uhh...maybe a few? New England might choose Carr over Tommy DeVito. The Colts would take him over Anthony Richardson. The Chargers could prefer him to Trey Lance. Maybe the Rams if Matthew Stafford goes down and they aren't ready to turn to Ty Simpson? Those are four potential landing spots if a starting quarterback gets hurt, that team is still in contention and they view Carr as the answer.
So, basically: it's not happening. Carr's requirements to return to the NFL combined with the fact that he's had a year off and a team can't be sure he's even good enough to start anymore means that we aren't going to see him in the NFL again.
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