Derek Carr explains why he turned down $30M in guaranteed money from the Saints to opt for retirement
Derek Carr was due $ 30 million in guaranteed salary in 2025, whether or not he played a snap for the New Orleans Saints.
But he turned it down to opt for retirement while walking away from far more money that the vast majority of people will see over the course of their lifetimes. Carr explained his decision in an interview published Wednesday by Front Office Sports.
He simply didn't feel good about taking it in a season where he was going to be sidelined by shoulder surgery.
“That part was tough because I didn’t want to have surgery and just sit there and — it sounds crazy but — just take the Saints money,” Carr told FOS.
Carr's 2025 season and ultimately his career were in jeopardy thanks to a shoulder injury he sustained because of football. Had he remained on the roster, he would have undergone season-ending surgery and sat on the sideline. And he would have collected $ 30 million in salary.
Again, football caused his injury, and he was rightfully due the money. But he thought that retirement and opting out of the payday was "the right thing to do."
“I wouldn’t have been able to play if I had the surgery,” Carr said. “And then if I tried to play with it, I wasn’t near 100%, 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.”
So Carr's football career is over. And he's certainly not hurting for money in retirement. Carr made $ 195.7 million in salary over the course of his 11-year career as an NFL quarterback with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders and Saints. As part of his agreement to retire and forgo his salary, the Saints awarded him a $ 10 million roster bonus for 2025 that he was due on top of his salary.
But still. That's an actual fortune that he left on the table completely of his own volition.
“I never played just for the money,” Carr continued. “I had a whole bunch of people tell me how crazy I was, and ‘man, I would never have done that.’
"That’s all cool, but I’ve gained all these things that the world has to offer, and it doesn’t really do anything for your heart. I knew my heart was at peace, and that’s really all that mattered.”
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