Giants sign QB Carr as backup
Posted: Wed Mar 12 7:24 PM
East Rutherford, NJ (Sports Network) - The New York Giants made a big move to backup Super Bowl champion quarterback Eli Manning on Wednesday, signing David Carr to a contract.
That means the Giants now have a pair of quarterbacks who were chosen first overall in NFL drafts. Manning was taken No. 1 in 2004, while Carr was the top overall pick in 2002.
This will be Carr’s seventh season in the NFL. He spent the first five seasons playing for the Houston Texans and played in six games for Carolina last season.
The 28-year-old Carr has started in 79 of the 82 games he's played in over his career, completing 1,316 of 2,206 passes for 14,026 yards with 62 touchdowns and 70 interceptions. He's also been sacked an incredible 262 times. That includes a record 76 times during his rookie campaign in 2002.
"I have a lot of calluses," Carr said. "I'm like an old carpenter - I've been through it. If you let that stuff affect you, you're not going to be able to do your job. One of the reasons I'm excited about coming here is they protect the quarterback well and they have playmakers on the outside."
Carr was released by the Panthers after this past season, when he played in six games, throwing for 635 yards with three TDs and five interceptions. He was pressed into action when Jake Delhomme got hurt, but was replaced later in the season. Carr didn't play in the Panthers' final five games.
Carr does have some competition to the backup spot with Jared Lorenzen and Anthony Wright.
Carr will also be reunited with Chris Palmer, who was Houston's offensive coordinator for the first four years that Carr was with the Texans.
Carr has passed for more than 300 yards in a game four times, including a career-high 372 against Minnesota on October 10, 2004.
"He is a smart and athletic player who has put up some big passing game numbers," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "We look forward to working with him on the fundamentals of the game. We do have some technical things to work on, but we are anxious to work with him in our program. If we can place him in a positive environment, perhaps he can reclaim some of the things that people saw to draft him in the first round."