Derek Carr's Collegiate Career: A Bulldog Legend
Derek Dallas Carr, born on March 28, 1991, left an indelible mark on the Fresno State Bulldogs football program. Before his 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), Carr honed his skills as a quarterback for the Bulldogs, setting numerous records and establishing himself as one of the program's all-time greats.
Early Life and High School Career
Born in Fresno, California, Carr's family later moved to Sugar Land, Texas. His high school football journey began at Clements High School in Sugar Land, Texas. After a year on the freshman team, he became a backup quarterback on the varsity team as a sophomore. Carr made gradual progress as a starter for the Clements High School Rangers. As a sophomore, he passed for 1,246 yards and 12 touchdowns, followed by 1,622 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior.
During his junior year, Carr led his team to an undefeated 13-0 season (including playoffs) before losing in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Class 5A Division 2 State playoffs in Region 3. The loss came against a Bo Levi Mitchell-led Katy High School Tigers team, who were also undefeated and went on to become the eventual champions.
Carr was heavily recruited during his junior year. His college choices included Fresno State, SMU, Boise State, the University of Southern California, UCLA, and Utah. Ultimately, he verbally committed to Fresno State on May 25, 2008, at the end of his junior year.
As a senior, Carr led the Eagles football team to a 12-1 record and the California Interscholastic Federation Central Section Division V championship. The only loss came at home against Oaks Christian High School, a national football powerhouse, during the team's season opener. On October 29, 2008, Carr was selected by ESPN RISE as the National Football Player of the Week after passing for 441 yards and three touchdowns in a game against Tehachapi High School five days earlier. Carr would eventually set a Central Section record by throwing 544 yards in a win against Arvin High School on November 7, 2008. Carr was also selected by The Bakersfield Californian as the 2008 All-Area Football Player of the Year.
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Fresno State Bulldogs Career
Carr attended college at Fresno State. He earned his opportunity to start for the Bulldogs in their 4-9 season in 2011. He made his first appearance as starter in the Bulldogs' season-opening loss to California. Three weeks later, Carr had a breakout game in a victory over Idaho with 371 passing yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions. Six games later, on November 12 in a loss to New Mexico State, he had a season-high 391 passing yards and three touchdowns. In the 2011 season, Carr passed for 3,544 passing yards, 26 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.
After splitting the first two games of the season, Carr passed for 300 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception in a victory over Colorado on September 15. Two weeks later, Carr had a career game in a 52-40 victory over San Diego State. In the regular season opener, Carr completed 52 passes on 73 attempts for 456 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception in a 52-51 victory over Rutgers. Carr's pass attempts and completions in the game set new school and conference records.
Following a win over Cal Poly in the next game, Carr passed for 460 yards and four touchdowns in a victory over Boise State to move the Bulldogs to a 3-0 mark. After a victory over Hawaii in the fourth game, Carr reeled off two consecutive games with over 400 passing yards in two victories. In that stretch was a five-touchdown game against Idaho and a four-touchdown game against UNLV. The Bulldogs moved to a 7-0 mark following a victory over San Diego State on October 26.
The month of November marked a start of impressive games statistically for Carr. Against Nevada, he had 487 passing yards and three touchdowns in the victory on November 2. The next week, he had 360 yards and four touchdowns in a victory over Wyoming. Two weeks later, he had 522 passing yards and seven touchdowns in a victory over New Mexico to move the Bulldogs to a 10-0 record. In that stretch, the Bulldogs earned as high of a ranking of 15 in the AP Poll, their highest since 2001. On November 29, Carr passed for 519 yards, six touchdowns, and one interceptions as the Bulldogs dropped their first game, a 62-52 shootout, to San Jose State. Fresno State qualified for the MWC Championship Game. Carr received the 2013 CFPA Elite QB Award for his performance over three seasons at Fresno State.
He appeared in 44 games with 39 starts. QB Derek Carr played four seasons at Fresno State. He established 27 school records and 21 Mountain West Conference records over his career, totaling 12,842 passing yards and 113 TDs.
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While at Fresno State, he wore number 4 as a homage to his favorite NFL player, Brett Favre. Carr's number was retired by Fresno State during halftime of a game against Incarnate Word in 2017.
NFL Draft and Early Career
Derek Carr was considered a late-first round or early-second round draft prospect in the 2014 NFL Draft, typically rated just behind fellow quarterback prospects in Johnny Manziel and Blake Bortles, and alongside prospects like Teddy Bridgewater. Carr was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft with the 36th overall pick. He was the fourth quarterback selected that year. On May 16, he was assigned his requested number 4.
Professional Career
Carr made his first career regular-season start against the Jets on September 7. During his professional debut, he passed for 151 yards and two touchdowns. The Raiders were unsuccessful during his debut and lost by a score of 19-14. In Week 4 against the Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium, Carr left the game due to a high ankle sprain and MCL sprain. In the fifth start of his career, on October 12, facing the division-rival San Diego Chargers, Carr made history by setting a new Raiders franchise record for the most passing touchdowns in a single regular-season game by a rookie, with four. This surpassed the previous record of three passing touchdowns, which was set by McGloin during his rookie season in 2013 versus the Texans. Additionally, Carr set single-game personal records for passing yards by throwing for 282 yards, and for total passer rating which amounted to 107.7. On November 20, Carr won his first NFL game by leading the previously winless Raiders to a 24-20 upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football. The Raiders trailed the Chiefs, 20-17, early in the fourth quarter, but Carr led them on an 80-yard drive that lasted just over 7 minutes.
On September 13, during the Raiders' season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Carr exited the game early with an injury to his throwing hand. The MRI was negative and Carr returned to start in Week 2 against the Baltimore Ravens. The Raiders won 37-33 to get their first win of the season. Carr had a career day against the Ravens as he threw over 350 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown to wide receiver Seth Roberts with 26 seconds remaining. Carr continued his successful play into Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns. On January 20, it was announced that he would be replacing Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers for the 2016 Pro Bowl. He became the first Raiders quarterback to be named to the Pro Bowl since Rich Gannon in 2002. After two seasons, Carr had 53 career touchdown passes, the second most by a quarterback in his first two seasons, behind Dan Marino's 68.
Carr started the 2016 season off strong with 319 passing yards, a touchdown, and a late go-ahead two-point conversion in a 35-34 victory over the New Orleans Saints. During Week 8 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carr finished with 513 passing yards, a franchise record, and four touchdowns as the Raiders won 30-24 in overtime. He earned his first AFC Offensive Player of the Week honor for his performance against the Buccaneers. In a Week 9 game against the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos, Carr led the Raiders to a 30-20 victory on Sunday Night Football to take sole possession of first place in the AFC West. During Week 11 against the Texans at Estadio Azteca, Carr completed 21 of 31 pass attempts for 295 yards and three touchdowns as the Raiders won 27-20. He surpassed 10,000 career passing yards and helped the Raiders take back sole possession of the division lead from the Chiefs. The following week versus the Carolina Panthers, Carr dislocated his pinkie on his throwing hand and had to miss a series. He returned the next drive with a glove on his hand and finished the game, which resulted in a 35-32 victory. The win brought the Raiders to a 9-2 record and clinched their first winning season since 2002.
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On Christmas Eve, in Week 16, Carr left the Raiders' eventual 33-25 win against the Indianapolis Colts in the fourth quarter with a leg injury. Head coach Jack Del Rio announced after the game that Carr suffered a fibula fracture from a sack by linebacker Trent Cole and that he would be out "indefinitely." The expected recovery time was six to eight weeks. Matt McGloin then started the team's final game of the regular season, but he suffered a shoulder injury and was replaced by Connor Cook, the third-string quarterback when the season began. This made Cook the starter for the first round of the playoffs. On June 22, 2017, Carr signed a five-year, $125 million contract extension with $40 million fully guaranteed, $70 million in total guarantees and a $12.5 million signing bonus.
In Week 2, Carr threw for 198 yards and one touchdown, with two interceptions on 23 completions for 38 attempts, in a 28-10 loss to the Chiefs. Despite the loss, Carr surpassed Hall of Famer Ken Stabler for the Raiders' franchise all-time record for passing yards. In Week 15 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Carr threw for 267 yards and one touchdown during the 20-16 loss. This was the Raiders' final home game of the season and their last time playing at RingCentral Coliseum. During the game, Carr eclipsed 300 completed passes during the season joining Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks to do so in each of their first six seasons. In Week 17 against the Denver Broncos, Carr threw for 391 yards and a touchdown during the 16-15 loss. Carr finished the 2019 season with 4,054 passing yards, 21 passing touchdowns, and eight interceptions as the Raiders finished with a 7-9 record. He set a franchise record for completion percentage for quarterbacks that played the whole season.
In Week 1 against the Panthers, Carr finished with 239 passing yards and a touchdown in the 34-30 win, the first since the Raiders moved to Las Vegas. In Week 2, Carr finished with 282 passing yards and three touchdowns in the 34-24 win over the highly touted Saints on Monday Night Football, the first win at Allegiant Stadium. On October 5, Carr, along with tight ends Darren Waller and Jason Witten, and seven other Raiders players, received a $15,000 fine for violating the NFL's COVID-19 protocol. In Week 5 against the Chiefs, Carr threw for 347 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception during the 40-32 upset road win.
Against the Ravens in Week 1, Carr finished with 435 passing yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. After completing just 53.3% of his passes and throwing three interceptions in a 13-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 16, Carr was benched in favor of Jarrett Stidham for the remainder of the season. With the demotion, Carr and the Raiders agreed that he would step away from the team for the rest of the season to avoid being a distraction. Prior to getting benched, Carr had started 91 consecutive regular-season games for the Raiders dating back to 2017, the longest active starting streak for the same team by a quarterback. The season was particularly frustrating for Carr and the Raiders. Nine of the eleven losses for the Raiders were by one possession, with Carr playing in ten of those losses.
On September 24, in a game against the Packers, he was removed due to a shoulder injury. He was replaced by Jameis Winston. The next day, it was reported that Carr's status would be "week to week." With the Saints sitting at 5-7, Carr helped lead them to a 4-1 stretch to close out the season where he passed for 14 touchdowns in five games, including a four-touchdown game in Week 18 against the Falcons. Carr had six games on the season going over 300 passing yards. Carr had an efficient day in the Saints' opening game against the Panthers, completing 19-of-23 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns.
Retirement
Carr announced his retirement on May 10, 2025. The decision was motivated by longstanding pain in his right shoulder resulting from a labral tear as well as other significant degenerative changes to his rotator cuff.
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