Derek Carr Isn’t Closing the Door on an NFL Comeback
Derek Carr hasn’t thrown a competitive pass since the 2024 season, but that doesn’t mean the league has forgotten about him. Appearing Friday on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football,” the retired quarterback said multiple teams contacted him this offseason to gauge his interest in ending his retirement.
“I’ll never say never,” Carr said. “It would take a special situation. There were multiple teams that reached out to me this offseason, and I won’t say who or how, but they reached out. Just gave them my interest on what I wanted to do and all those things. They were good, solid football teams, but a couple of them in some different situations.”
Carr didn’t name the teams. He didn’t confirm whether any offers came with specific roles attached, either as a starter or a bridge option. What he did make clear is the bar he’s set for himself before he’d consider strapping on pads again.
Why Carr Says a Return Would Take a Super Bowl Contender
Carr has said before that he’d only unretire for a team built to win now, not one looking for a stopgap. He repeated that stance Friday, framing his remaining football ambitions entirely around a championship chase rather than personal stats or a paycheck.
“I think I’m just at the point where I just want to win, man,” Carr said. “I want to win, and I want to do those things. If I were to do it, it’d have to be a special team that maybe lost somebody or needed somebody. Even then, it’s not guaranteed.”
That’s a meaningful distinction in team-building terms. Most veteran quarterbacks who sign after retirement or free agency do so as insurance — a name on the depth chart in case the starter goes down. Carr is saying he won’t take that deal. He wants a roster already positioned for a deep playoff run, one that lost a starter to injury or otherwise needs immediate help at the position, not a rebuild or a bridge job.
That preference likely explains why nothing has materialized yet. According to Pro Football Rumors, the two teams that entered the 2026 league year with clear starting-quarterback vacancies — Pittsburgh and Minnesota — both resolved the position elsewhere. The Steelers waited out Aaron Rodgers, who re-signed with the team in May, and the Vikings signed Kyler Murray in March. Neither situation left an opening that matched what Carr says he’s looking for.
Family and Golf Over a Roster Spot, For Now
Carr spent much of the segment describing life away from football rather than a path back to it. He talked about training to stay in shape, but not necessarily for a season — more so his four sons don’t catch up to him physically.
“I’m having too much fun hanging out with my wife, hanging out with my kids and trying to get good at golf,” Carr said. “It would take a special deal, but I’m always training. I got to. I got four boys that can’t beat me up when they’re 18, so I got to keep training. I’ll be in shape and ready, but probably not. I’ll probably be just coaching my kids, that’s for sure.”
That’s a notable shift in tone from a player who spent 11 seasons as an NFL starter. Carr was a second-round pick by the then-Oakland Raiders in 2014, started for the franchise for nine seasons, then signed a four-year, $150 million deal with the New Orleans Saints in 2023. He retired last offseason after Saints doctors found a labral tear and degenerative changes in his throwing shoulder.
What Would Actually Bring Carr Back
The realistic path back to the field, if there is one, runs through injury attrition rather than free agency. Teams have already tested that theory. According to Pro Football Rumors, both the Bengals and Colts contacted Carr last season after losing their starting quarterbacks to long-term injuries — Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Indianapolis’ Daniel Jones. Neither team pulled Carr out of retirement. The Bengals traded for Joe Flacco, and the Colts talked 44-year-old Philip Rivers into a brief return instead.
That history suggests Carr’s bar is genuinely high, not just talk. A team would likely need to lose a starter during the season — after training camp roster limits narrow the market — and be viewed as a legitimate contender for Carr to seriously engage. The NFL’s trade deadline, set for Nov. 10, would be the last realistic point for a club to make that kind of move through a trade rather than free agency; an in-season unretirement wouldn’t involve a trade at all, since a free agent simply signs.
Carr’s comments track with earlier reporting. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported in February that teams had done background work on Carr during the 2025 season and into the playoffs as quarterback injuries piled up around the league.
The Saints Angle
Carr’s name still carries weight in New Orleans, even if a reunion looks unlikely. The Saints have moved on with 2025 second-round pick Tyler Shough, who went 5-4 as a rookie starter last season, completing 67.6% of his passes for 2,384 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions, with three rushing touchdowns added. ESPN reported in January that New Orleans plans to enter 2026 with Shough as the starter.
Carr’s retirement forced that transition under head coach Kellen Moore before the Saints necessarily wanted it. A year later, the front office has settled into a plan that doesn’t include bringing him back — and Carr’s own criteria, a team searching for a difference-maker with a real shot at a title, doesn’t describe where the Saints are right now.
“You know, I’ll never say never. It would take a special situation.” — Derek Carr, on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football,” July 10, 2026
