Saints quarterback Derek Carr stunned the league last month by abruptly retiring. As explained at the time, he gave up $30 million by choosing not to have surgery to repair a shoulder injury and miss the 2025 season.
“I didn’t want to have surgery and just sit there and — it sounds crazy but — just take the Saints money,” Carr told David Rumsey of FrontOfficeSports.com.
He had to choose between having surgery and not playing or not having surgery and trying to play.
“I wouldn’t have been able to play if I had the surgery,” Carr told Rumsey. “And then if I tried to play with it, I wasn’t near 100 percent, and so that doesn’t help them, either. I just felt like it was the right thing to do for myself and for the team.”
Good on him.
Take the money, get fat and happy, and enjoy the rest of your life. Even though he was a longtime Raider, Carr always struck me as a pretty stand-up guy. I wish him the best.