One thing Raiders fans came to understand about Derek Carr is he says a lot of things. Then he says a lot of contradictory things. Sometimes in the next sentence.
One particular instance that comes to mind was when he was asked after a game if he trusts his offensive line. To which he said he did. But then followed that up with “I’ll always say that.” And thus rendering his previous statement of trust either completely irrelevant and or disingenuous. If you’re just going to up and admit that you will always just *say* you trust them, no matter what, it means a lot of times you say it without meaning it. And saying that *right after* you just said you trust them, kinda makes it sound like that was one of those times you didn’t actually mean it.
And that’s to say nothing of the many times he said he would retire before ever playing for another team than the Raiders, only to not only play for another team, but to ensure the Raiders got no compensation when he left by exercising the no-trade clause in his contract, ending his nine-year run with the Raiders.
The Saints would get just 27 games out of Carr before he was lost to a shoulder injury. That injury turned out to be serious enough that he announced his retirement this offseason at the age of 34. Which brings us to this week, when Carr made one of his signature double speak contradictions.
Carr appeared on The Dan Patrick Show and talked about this week, where Patrick asked him if he thinks he’ll play again.
“I wouldn’t say never. Because I’ve learned that when I say never, it usually happens,” Carr said.
“I’m still doing those things, I’ve always felt like, even though I’m done, if God wanted me to do it, (I’ve got to) be ready. I don’t want to go out there and not be ready. I’ll be ready, but I’m not coming back. Right now, today, I’m not coming back.”
So, yeah, the basic translation here is he plans on trying to make a comeback. You’re either done or your not. There is no “right now” to that. That literally just means a pause.
I hope no one really thought they’d seen the last of Derek Carr. And, yeah, plenty of players retire and unretire. There’s nothing uniquely dishonest happening here. In fact, with quarterbacks playing well into their late 30s in today’s day and age, I’d have been more surprised if he never gave it another shot once he was healthy.
