Derek Carr walked away from the NFL back in May, retiring after 11 seasons because of a labral tear and rotator cuff damage in his throwing shoulder that would've required surgery and likely cost him the 2026 season. It was framed as a clean, mutual break with the Saints, the kind of retirement that reads final. Except it might not be.
Multiple teams have reached out to Derek Carr this offseason to gauge his interest in returning, per @gmfb Carr said it would take a “special situation” to return.
Carr said the teams that called are good, solid football operations, though he wouldn't name names or say exactly how the contact came through. What he did make clear is the bar for actually pulling the pads back on: it would take a "special situation," his words, something like a contender that lost a quarterback or suddenly needs one, not just any roster with an open door.
That framing matters. Carr isn't sitting by the phone. Since retiring he's said his shoulder has responded well to rest and he's throwing without limitations again as part of his normal routine, which is exactly the kind of detail that turns "never say never" from a throwaway line into something teams actually track. A 34-year-old veteran with 11 years of starting experience and a healthy arm is a very different asset on the open market than a guy who limped out the door.
Still, everything about how Carr talked about this points toward staying retired. He's leaned into the family stuff hard, spending time with his wife and kids and working on his golf game, and has said his career is probably finished even while acknowledging the calls are coming in. That's the tension here: genuinely content walking away, genuinely getting recruited anyway.
So don't expect Carr trending toward a starting job somewhere in August. But quarterback rooms break in weird ways once camps open and injuries pile up, and Carr just told the league, on the record, exactly what kind of offer would get him to listen. That's not nothing. If a contender loses its guy in September, this is the name that resurfaces.