Retired quarterback Derek Carr said Friday on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football that his phone was busier this offseason than the public reporting suggested. “There were multiple teams that reached out to me this offseason,” Carr said. “I won’t say who or how, but they reached out and were gauging my interest on what I wanted to do. They were good, solid football teams.” Asked whether he would still play, the 35-year-old answered, “Never say never,” adding that it would take a “special team” and that he stays in training in case one calls.
The New Orleans Saints have a direct stake in those comments. New Orleans placed Carr on the reserve/retired list after he walked away in May 2025, which means the club still holds his rights. He cannot sign anywhere unless the Saints release or trade him — and as Pro Football Rumors noted in relaying the interview, any team that contacted Carr in recent months would have needed the Saints’ permission to do so.
The books tell the rest of the story. Carr counts $36.67 million in dead money against the Saints’ 2026 cap, the third-largest single-player charge in the league this year behind only Tua Tagovailoa’s $55.4 million in Miami and Kyler Murray’s $46.57 million in Arizona, per Pro Football Rumors’ league-wide accounting published Friday. New Orleans structured his retirement as a post-June 1 designation, splitting the bill across 2025 and 2026 rather than absorbing it in one season. That charge is fixed. Whether Carr plays golf or plays quarterback somewhere in December, the Saints pay it either way.
What the rights are worth is a different question. Carr drew calls from the Bengals and Colts after their starters went down last season and declined both. If a contender loses its quarterback between now and the November 10 trade deadline and Carr decides the situation qualifies as special, New Orleans is a required party to the transaction — and a franchise that has moved on to rookie starter Tyler Shough could reasonably ask for a late-round pick for its trouble. It costs the Saints nothing to wait by the phone. The dead money is spent; the rights, at least, might still earn something back.
