David Carr (American football)

David Carr

Carolina Panthers
Career information
College:	Fresno State
NFL draft:	2002 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1
Career history
Houston Texans (2002-2006) Carolina Panthers (2007-present)
Career highlights and awards
Johnny Unitas Award (2001)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2007
TD-INT: 62-70 Passing yards: 14,026 QB Rating: 74.4

For the former AIDS sufferer, see David Carr (history of AIDS).

David Duke Carr (born July 21, 1979 in Bakersfield, California) is an American football quarterback in the National Football League. An alumnus of Fresno State, Carr entered the National Football League as the first overall pick of the 2002 NFL Draft. He spent five seasons as the Houston Texans' starting quarterback, but was later released from the team after the 2006 season. The Carolina Panthers subsequently acquired him through free agency.

College career

David Carr began as the starting quarterback at Fresno State during the 2000 and 2001 seasons after redshirting in 1999. Under his leadership, the Bulldogs went 7-5 and 11-3. In his senior season the team beat Colorado, Oregon State, and Wisconsin, all members of BCS conferences. There was speculation about whether the Bulldogs would qualify for a BCS bid, something then unprecedented for a 'Mid Major' conference team. They climbed to as high as number 8 in the polls, and he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. During his collegiate career Carr completed 587 of 934 passes for 7,849 yards. He threw 70 touchdowns versus 23 interceptions. Carr collected many honors and awards during his final college season, most notably the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

Professional career

With the first overall pick of 2002 NFL Draft, the expansion Houston Texans selected David Carr. He had started all but a handful of games for the team in its first five years. Carr's professional career began on a productive note. The Texans launched their inaugural campaign on September 8, 2002, against the Dallas Cowboys at Houston's brand-new Reliant Stadium. He led the Texans to their first victory over intrastate rivals 19-10, becoming just the second expansion team ever to win their first game. From that point onward, the season went downhill, with the Texans winning four of their games. Carr went on to become the most-sacked quarterback in a single season of the NFL, being sacked over 70 times due to a weak offensive line and his own inexperience.

The Texans duplicated the season-opening victory success the following year, with Carr leading the team to only a 1-game improvement over the previous year. Carr led the Texans to their most successful season in 2004 with an improvement to 7-9, but was unable to maintain the improvements in subsequent years. The Texans saw promise for improvement and exercised an option in his contract, signing the former Fresno State standout for another three seasons with less than desirable results. The Texans finished the season with a 6-10 record and Carr posting a completion percentage of 68.9% (a career high) however he rarely threw the ball more than a few yards down the field. Over the last ten weeks of the season David threw only one touchdown pass in a meaningful game. This is in contrast to earlier seasons where his offensive line was criticized for failing to protect him the 2006 season saw Carr's play decline at times when he had more than adequate protection.

On March 21, 2007, Houston acquired Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Schaub. Schaub was subsequently named the starting quarterback for the Texans on March 22, 2007. On March 23, 2007 the Texans released Carr after failing to find anyone willing to trade for him. Carr signed a two-year deal with the Carolina Panthers on April 6, 2007. Later that year, James Black, NFL Editor for Yahoo! Sports, wrote that "Tim Couch might be the one person preventing us from deeming David Carr as the worst overall No. 1 draft choice among quarterbacks since the AFL/NFL merger in 1970."

External links

• Carr's biography, from the official website of Fresno State athletics
• Template:Pro-football-reference