Derek Carr’s brother doesn’t see QB pulling a Tom Brady after retirement shocker

David Carr recently spent time on the links with his younger brother, former Saints and Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, who shocked the NFL world over the weekend by retiring at the age of 34.

David, a former No. 1 pick with the Texans, could not believe how many times their round of golf had to be paused momentarily for ex-teammates or coaches to reach out to Derek and offer praise.

“It was every other shot his phone was ringing from either an ex-head coach or someone he played against, just non-stop outpour. He just put them on speaker and he didn’t have chats with them,” David said Tuesday on NFL Network. “It was incredible to see the impact he’s had on his teammates, and it wasn’t just a football thing because you win games, you lose games. But in reality, it’s the impact you make on the guys around you and I was kind of shocked by honestly, the amount of people that called just loving the fact they got play with him and know him and that meant for me, more than anything.”

Spending that time with his brother and discussing why he decided to move on from the sport after 11 seasons left David, 45, confident that this will not prove to be a situation where Derek suddenly gets the itch to return in a year or two after giving his ailing shoulder and rotator cuff time to recover.

Tom Brady notably retired after the 2021 season, only to decide roughly six weeks later that he would return for one more season with the Buccaneers.

“I believe that he is done. I know that Derek loves the game. Here’s what I’ll tell you: More than anything, he loved the teammates, he loved being around the personalities,” David said of his brother’s future.

“I can tell, just in the last couple of days, that he’s definitely done playing and he’s moved on. His family, his boys and his little girl, are getting older. They’re getting to the point where they want to have dad around more and that means more to him than anything else.”

Derek spent nine seasons with the Raiders and the past two with the Saints, but decided to call it quits rather than undergo shoulder surgery and proceed with the necessary rehab.

The surgery would have been to repair a labral tear and “significant degenerative changes” to his rotator cuff, as detailed in a statement released by the Saints, and could have cost him the entire 2025 season.

The team’s statement added there was no guarantee Derek would have returned to the level of play and shoulder strength he previously enjoyed.

“That decision was not easy,” David said. “It was something he had to think long and hard about. There were a lot of different things that factored into it. His children are getting older … and then you kind of compound the question and the decision with the fact that his shoulder wasn’t what it was before. When he tried to ramp up throwing again this year, it just didn’t feel right. It never felt comfortable. And he knows how hard it is to go through an NFL season fully healthy, as opposed to kind of trying to struggle your way into getting ready to play Week 1. With that being the case and all those factors, it was time. He is very content with where he is.”

Derek’s decision stunned many since he walked away from plenty of money.

While the parties worked out a deal in which he would keep his $10 million roster bonus from March, he passed on making $30 million this season that would have been owed to him had he returned.

David praised his brother for being able to do so when the natural inclination would be to pocket the money.

“He walked away from a lot of money. I look at it from a player’s perspective, you could have easily said, ‘I’ll have the surgery. Let me just get through the season. Just cut me a check,” David said. “Let’s be honest, that’s a very real scenario and that was never it for him. That’s what was so shocking for me — and not really shocking, because I know the kid — but just watching him kind of go through everyday life and as a quarterback, for him to make those decisions, ‘No. 1, I want to do what’s right for the Saints, I want to make sure they’re set up in a way where they can kind of recover from this. I know this is late, I know this isn’t ideal, but I want them to be able to recover and have something going forward.’

“Him and (Saints general manager) Mickey (Loomis) worked very well together and Derek finally came to the decision where he didn’t want to have surgery, he didn’t want to go through rehab and didn’t know if he’d be able to come back then and help the team and he made the decision to walk away. He’s very happy. He’s happy on the golf course.”

David does, however, have one concern for his brother now that he has plenty of free time.

“It’s depressing because he’s really good at golf and I’m going to have to step my game up,” he joked.