New Orleans quarterback Derek Carr announced his retirement Saturday morning.
Carr experienced pain in his throwing shoulder when he began his preparations for the 2025 season in late March. Since testing showed he had a labral tear and significant degenerative changes to his rotator cuff, Carr has worked with the Saints and other medical experts to figure out the best path forward.
The surgery option would jeopardize the entire 2025 campaign and wouldn’t guarantee that Carr would regain the strength needed to play at an NFL level. Therefore, after consulting with his wife, Heather, and the Saints, Carr made the difficult decision to retire from the National Football League.
“Upon reflection of prayer, and in discussion with Heather, I’ve decided to retire from the National Football League,” said Carr. “For more than 11 years, we have been incredibly blessed, and we are forever grateful and humbled by this experience. It’s difficult to find the right words to express our thanks to all the teammates, coaches, management, ownership, team officials and especially the fans who made this journey so special. Your unwavering support has meant the world to us.”
The 34-year-old Carr is a four-time Pro-Bowler who has 41,245 career passing yards and a 257/112 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He started 169 regular-season games during his 11-year career, posting a 77-92 record.
The Oakland Raiders picked Carr with the #36 overall pick in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He had a spectacular collegiate career at Fresno St., winning 2012 and 2013 Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors.
In 44 career games for the Bulldogs, Carr completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 12,843 yards with a 113/24 TD-INT ratio. He finished eighth in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 2013 when he led the nation with 5,083 passing yards and 50 TDs compared to only eight picks.
Carr remains Fresno St.’s all-time leader in career passing yards and owns most of the school’s other passing records.
During Carr’s nine-year tenure with the Raiders, he was only able to get them to the postseason twice. But unfortunately, he was injured in 2016 after leading his team to a 12-3 record in its first 15 games. He had 3,937 passing yards and a 28/6 TD-INT ratio before going down with the season-ending injury.
In the team’s second season in Las Vegas (2021) after leaving Oakland, Carr led the Raiders to a 10-7 record and a berth in the AFC’s wild card round. But they lost a 26-19 decision at Cincinnati.
On a fourth-and-goal play with 17 seconds left, Carr was intercepted by Germaine Pratt. He completed 29-of-54 passes for 310 yards and one TD with one interception.
One year later, he was benched by Las Vegas in December, signaling the end of his career with the Raiders.
During the 2023 free agency period, Carr inked a four-year contract with the Saints worth $150 million. In 17 games for New Orleans in 2023, Carr helped the team to a 9-8 record, completing 68.4 percent of his throws for 3,878 yards with a 25/8 TD-INT ratio.
He was limited to 10 games this past season due to injuries, with the Saints going 5-5 in those contests. Carr connected on 67.7 percent of his passes for 2,145 yards and 15 TDs compared to just five interceptions.
New Orleans has three QBs remaining on its roster in 2023 fourth-round pick Jake Haener, 2024 fifth-round selection Spencer Rattler and 2025 second-round pick Tyler Shough.