FEBRUARY 25: Rumors continue to support the narrative of a potential return to the NFL for Carr. According to NFL Insider Jordan Schultz, there’s growing belief that Carr “is very serious about unretiring and returning to the NFL in 2026.” Carr’s decision to return will still hinge on the right situation presenting itself, but that’s only half the battle. Per Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.football, because Carr didn’t play out his full contract before retiring, the Saints still retain his rights and would likely be due trade compensation from any team looking to acquire the 34-year-old passer.
FEBRUARY 14: It’s the era of unretiring quarterbacks in the NFL, apparently. Though we’ve seen it from other positions, as well (most notably tight ends — Jason Witten, Rob Gronkowski, Darren Waller), quarterbacks seem to be the most notorious culprits of playing with the emotions of their fans. 
Brett Favre retired with the Packers before coming back to play and retire with the Jets before coming back to play and retire with the Vikings. Favre’s first retirement lasted about four months before he asked the Packers for his release; his second lasted just over two months before the Jets let him go. Tom Brady retired after two seasons with the Buccaneers before announcing, 40 days later, that he would return for another year. The most notorious — and egregious — example came to us this past season when Philip Rivers made a comeback for the Colts nearly five years after initially hanging up his cleats.
That’s what made it unsurprising, at this point, when reports sprouted up last week that former Raiders and Saints quarterback Derek Carr could consider returning to play in 2026 after retiring last year. As Carr dealt with a shoulder injury and the potential need for surgery, it was announced that he would be hanging it up. Initial reports indicated that Carr was “extremely unlikely” to unretire, but he had called around the league to gauge interest before making the decision and, eventually, began to change his tune. When both the Bengals and Colts came calling, though, Carr remained retired, not yet getting coaxed out of unemployment.
Then, last week’s reports came out, and in an installment of Carr’s Home Grown podcast that he hosts with his brother, David Carr, on Thursday, Derek confirmed the reports that unretirement was a possible consideration. “Would I do it? Yes,” Carr communicated to his brother and listeners. “Would I do it for anybody? Absolutely not. I’d have to be healthy, and I’d want a chance to win a Super Bowl, and obviously, that’s a tough thing to find. That’s hard to do. That’s not easy.”
The 34-year-old passer seemed to indicate that health is not an issue at this point in time and, perhaps, alluded to the contender-status requirement being the reason he didn’t unretire for the Bengals and Colts last year, saying he “had to say ‘no’ a couple times, so far.”
The Bengals had shown in 2024 that even with Joe Burrow playing at an MVP level, their defense kept them from even making the playoffs, and while the Colts looked like the team to beat in the AFC after a 7-1 start to the season, cracks had already started to appear even before Daniel Jones went down with a season-ending injury. Indianapolis lost three of its last four games with Jones at quarterback with the only win coming in overtime over the Falcons.
It’s unclear, then, exactly what the scenario would need to look like for him to seriously consider returning to the field. One would assume that perennial quarterback-hungry teams like the Jets, Raiders, or Browns would not entice him to unretire.
Other teams with potential quarterback openings could be the Dolphins, Steelers, Colts, Vikings, Falcons, and Cardinals. It’s hard to argue any of those teams are necessarily a Derek Carr away from winning it all, but the situation Carr may be looking for could be one in which an expected title contender loses their passer and is looking for a veteran to carry them to the finish line, à la Nick Foles in 2017.
Regardless, the option appears to be on the table and, given the return of the 44-year-old Rivers last year, it could remain on the table for years to come. It only remains to be seen whether or not the stars will align for Carr to dust off his cleats and see if they still fit.
Hey, David Carr is only 46. Bet he can still play.
After all of those sacks, I’ll bet that David’s body feels 146.
Pathetic. Just retire and go away. Maybe should have saved some money instead of spending like a billionaire.
Money was/is not an issue for Derek Carr. He walked away from guaranteed money from Saints due to shoulder injury. He easily could have hang out on IR all year and got paid for it. Instead he took the high road and retired leaving that money on the table.
If you want to argue that he is past his prime, have at it but don’t pretend that you know his financial situation.
Ignore (or better yet, flag) “Never Remember”
Legitimately the absolute most insufferable user on PFR.
Depending on Jones injury status, he’s lining up the Colts job.
I could see him considering the Vikings, too.
The Vikings make the most sense to me.
They are one year removed from 14 wins with Darnold taking snaps. Flores will be back as DC of championship caliber defense.
JJ McCarthy was so bad. Vikings check all the boxes for Carr.
If Carr watched Carson Wentz get bum rushed every passing play, he won’t be going to Minnesota with that OL
I think Carr only lasted as long as he did with the Raiders because his competition on the depth chart was Mike Glennon, Nathan Peterman and DeShone Kizer.
He’s really missing playing
Well then he needs to be less picky about where he goes.
Well that only took one off season of living in Fresno.
“Fresno, that’s a lovely town”…
“It wasn’t”
—- Ryan Stiles, “Whose Line is it Anyways”
Deeek Carr put up some pretty solid numbers in some pretty bad teams. And he retired because of injury, not for lack of ability. Think about the dearth of WB talent around the league, the terrible current QB free agent pool, and the not at all deep QB draft class.
Whatever you thought of Carr before in his career doesn’t matter. If he decided to play he will have his pick of teams.
with how starved the NFL is for QB talent, I wonder if he surveyed the landscape and saw another opportunity for another bag chase. He is a still a top 32 QB after all. First and foremost, Carr is a generational bag securer.
Stay retired…..
Would he consider being a backup for the Buccaneers? It would not be a bad fit
Maybe the Cardinals could use him as a starter
Did you read the article
What is Carr Goldilocks?
He is looking for a contender team
Good luck to him. Contending teams tend to have QBs in place that played well and aren’t interested in taking on a guy who retired last season and decided he wants to lace up again. He’s going to have to adjust his expectations as far as that goes if he wants to come back.
Miami? Arizona? Can’t be any worse than Kyler Scurry or Tua Tieabutaneverwinna.
His last name is spelled “Tagovailoa” and he won a National Championship at Alabama. What have you won? Oh, a minor league baseball career lol.
You seem to be an angry little elf.
He must be from the South Pole.
Jalen Hurts got ‘Bama to the Championship game; even played the first half before Saban pulled him for Tua
If you want to use his college career to defend Tua, talk about next 2 seasons when he was firmly at QB1; the 2nd of which Hurts led OU to the Championship game
Steinbummer1234- His name is MUD in Miami. And he is whatever I choose to refer to him as. He hasn’t done crap in the NFL. Tua Tieabutaneverwinna is obviously a system QB, and he’s not good in the system Miami used. What’s wrong with a minor league baseball career? Or a college football career? Sounds like you’re a very jealous and small person. Please get help for your problem or problems.
Vikings makes sense JJ can learn under him
I hope they get him, that’s probably the best option for both.
Agreed!
Jets?
Did you read the article?
can’t wait to see which GM will be out of a job this time next year .. when they think it’s smart to sign “one playoff game” carr
“Do you know that when you’re home all football season your wife makes you do things??!!?? I didn’t know that…”
U know, if he’s actually healthy he does have a market, considering the lack of draft options this year
Teams looking at need to draft a QB are not usually contenders.
Teams that are serious about contending will never sign this guy. Enjoy retirement.
Who wants to sign him though?
Pls give us a pick for him 😆