Chris Carr (American football)

Charles Christopher "Chris" Carr[1] (born April 30, 1983) is a former American football cornerback, punt returner, and kick returner in the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Oakland Raiders as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He also played for the Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, Minnesota Vikings, San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints. He played college football at Boise State.

For other people with the same name, see Chris Carr (disambiguation).

Chris Carr
Carr at the Titans 2008 training camp
No. 23, 29, 25, 22, 31
Position:Cornerback / Kick returner
Personal information
Born: (1983-04-30) April 30, 1983
Reno, Nevada
Height:5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight:182 lb (83 kg)
Career information
High school:Robert McQueen
(Reno, Nevada)
College:Boise State
Undrafted:2005
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career NFL statistics
Total tackles:230
Sacks:2.5
Forced fumbles:7
Interceptions:7
Total return yards:7,349
Total touchdowns:1
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Early years

Born in Reno, Nevada, he played both football and basketball at Robert McQueen High School in Reno. He also played for the Reno Steelers Pop Warner team. He played defensive back and was an All-State running back as a sophomore, junior and senior. He was also named Northern Nevada Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year his senior year, where he rushed for 1,944 yards on 206 carries and 34 touchdowns.

College career

He played his college ball at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho, lettered all four years, played in all 12 games as a true freshman in 2001 and posted 32 tackles. Carr was the Pat Fuller Memorial Award winner for Academic Achievement. As a senior, in 2004, he finished the season as the NCAA active career leader in average yardage per punt return, with 19.8 (22 punt returns for 432 yards). Even though he missed the last six games of regular season, as a senior, he was named honorable mention All-WAC as a safety and kick returner.

Professional career

Oakland Raiders
Carr with the Raiders in 2007.

He was signed by the Oakland Raiders in 2005 as an undrafted free agent. Carr's main contribution to the Raiders was as a kickoff and punt returner on special teams. He played in all 16 games in the 2005 NFL season for the Raiders, and had seven tackles, two assists and two pass deflections. As a kick returner, he ran 73 times for 1752 yards (an average of 24 per carry) with a long of 62 yards. As a punt returner, he ran 32 times for 186 yards (an average of 5.5) with a long of 34. He only gave up 2 fumbles.

His first touchdown came while playing as a cornerback, when he intercepted a pass by Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and returned it 100[2] yards for a touchdown on October 29, 2006 at McAfee Coliseum. It was the second longest interception for a touchdown in Raiders history (6th longest in NFL history)[2] and helped seal an upset win over the defending Super Bowl champions.

Carr is the Raiders all-time leader in kickoff return yardage, with a total of 4,841 yards on 201 attempts.

Tennessee Titans

Carr became a restricted free agent in the 2008 offseason. On March 29, the Titans signed Carr to a one-year, $2 million offer sheet.[3] On April 5, the Raiders declined to match the offer after seven days and Carr became a member of the Titans. Carr had 31 tackles and an interception with the Titans in 2008. He also had his best year as a return man as a member of the Tennessee Titans Averaging 28.1 yards per kick return and 10.1 yards per punt return. The Titans finished the season with the best return average in the NFL.

Baltimore Ravens

Carr signed a two-year, $5 million contract with the Baltimore Ravens on March 18, 2009. In the 2009 season, Carr started off as primarily a returner, but injuries to Fabian Washington and Lardarius Webb made him a more prominent part of the defense. He finished the year strongly in his new role, recording career highs with 44 tackles and 2 interceptions. The year was capped off with an interception of Tom Brady in the playoffs when facing the New England Patriots.

At the start of training camp the following year, Dominique Foxworth suffered a tear to his ACL. With Washington and Webb still recovering from ACL tears of their own, Carr was upgraded to a starter in drills and the preseason alongside former Seattle Seahawk Josh Wilson. He began the season as a starter opposite the returning Washington. Carr was used much less as a returner and much more on defense, having his best defensive year of his career. In 2010, Carr set a career-high in tackles (61) and tied a previous career high set in 2009 with two interceptions.[4][5][6][7]

On July 30, 2011, the Baltimore Ravens re-signed Carr (four-year deal) as an unrestricted free agent, retaining experience in an otherwise very young cornerback group that included 2011 first-round pick Jimmy Smith. Carr, however, missed much of 2011 with injuries, and became expendable. He recorded only 19 tackles that year (plus a sack). Carr had previously never missed a game in his career.

Minnesota Vikings

Carr signed with the Minnesota Vikings on April 4, 2012.[8] On August 31, 2012 as the Vikings reduced their roster to league maximum of 53 players, he was released.[9]

San Diego Chargers

After spending the first four weeks of the 2012 season out of football, Carr joined his fifth career team by signing a one-year contract with the San Diego Chargers.[10] The Chargers had sustained multiple injuries to their secondary.

While with the team, he recorded four tackles, returned five kickoffs, and two punts. He played in nine games.

New Orleans Saints

On June 11, 2013, Carr signed a one-year deal with the New Orleans Saints.[11] He was cut on August 31, 2013. After cornerback Patrick Robinson was injured in the Saints' second game, Carr was re-signed on September 17, 2013.[12] On December 17, 2013, Carr was released.[13]

Retirement

On March 19, 2014, Carr announced his intention to retire.[14][15][16]

In May 2017, Carr graduated from the George Washington University Law School. He is currently an attorney at Zeman and Petterson, PLLC.[17]

References
  1. "NFL #31 Chris Carr - ESPN". ESPN.go.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  2. "NFL Longest interception return Single-Season Leaders - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  3. Titans sign CB/KR Chris Carr to offer sheet Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  4. "Baltimore Ravens - Home". BaltimoreRavens.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  5. Hensley, Jamison. "Carr bringing a lot of drive to Ravens," The Baltimore Sun, Thursday, March 19, 2009.
  6. "Chris Carr". NFL.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  7. Vensel, Matt. "Let's play Meet the Blogger". BaltimoreSun.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  8. "Vikings sign Chris Carr". NBCSports.com. April 4, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  9. Craig, Mark. "Chris Carr, Sage Rosenfels surprises among Vikings' final cuts". Star Tribune. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
  10. Chris Carr joins San Diego Chargers on one-year contract-NFL.com Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  11. "New Orleans Saints Sign DB Chris Carr". NewOrleansSaints.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  12. Larry Holder, "New Orleans Saints re-sign cornerback Chris Carr, agent says", Times-Picayune, September 17, 2013.
  13. "Garrett Hartley cut by Saints; Shayne Graham signs". NFL.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  14. Ramon Vargas, "Gleason to receive an honorary degree from Loyola; Carr to retire", The Advocate, March 19, 2014.
  15. Group, Sinclair Broadcast. "Chris Carr Retires from NFL". MyNews4.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  16. "As he retires from NFL, McQueen star Chris Carr's legacy that of relentless work ethic". RGJ.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  17. Larimer, Sarah (May 14, 2017). "Three years out of the NFL, he's about to graduate from law school". Retrieved December 21, 2017 – via www.WashingtonPost.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.