Derek Carr seems to be getting bad news about possible NFL comeback

Retired quarterback Derek Carr hinted before the new NFL year started last Wednesday that he had heard from "three or four teams that have been serious" about possibly wanting to acquire his rights from the New Orleans Saints.

It seems those clubs aren't too serious about having Carr on the active roster later this year. 

Have Saints heard from teams about a trade for Derek Carr?

"As of scouting combine week, the Saints hadn’t heard from any team regarding a potential trade for Carr’s contract rights," NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk shared over the weekend. "Through the first week of free agency, we’re told, the Saints still haven’t gotten any inquiries."

Carr was on the New Orleans roster when he retired last spring due to reasons related to a significant shoulder injury. For an article published on March 4, Saints reporter Katherine Terrell of ESPN suggested that the club could want a third- or fifth-round draft pick in return for the signal-caller who turns 35 years old on March 28. 

As Florio mentioned, teams such as the Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons addressed their quarterback situations via non-Carr-related moves. The Las Vegas Raiders are widely expected to make Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza the first overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft. Neither the Pittsburgh Steelers nor the Cleveland Browns seems all that interested in Carr early into free agency. 

Why Derek Carr may stay retired

In February, Carr teased that he would only make a comeback for "a chance to win a Super Bowl." No advertised contender is in need of a QB1 as of the middle of March, and that likely won't change anytime soon. 

"There are no takers for Carr, if he were to unretire," Florio added. "Injuries could change that; if a starter on a contender suffers a serious injury before the trade deadline, Carr becomes a potential alternative to the next man up on the depth chart."

It's unknown if Carr would be willing to join a new team as an in-season acquisition. If he isn't, his attempt at a comeback could go down as a short-lived what-could-have-been scenario.