ALBANY – David Carr plans on using the Giants. The Giants plan on using David Carr.
“I told Coach [Tom] Coughlin I want to help the team any way I can, and I’m looking for them to help me as well,” a relaxed Carr said yesterday in between practice sessions at Giants training camp. “If we can both do that, it’s going to be positive for everybody.”
Consider this the ultimate user relationship. This can be viewed as the last roundup for Carr, 29, who in 2002 was the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, a great honor that devolved into a great headache when he languished within the moribund offense that was the Houston Texans.
Five years later, he was mercifully released, the best option for his body and mind, and last season struggled through an unsatisfying and unsuccessful one-and-done stay with the Panthers.
Can a career in tatters be repaired by the Super Bowl champions?
“Being around a good group, guys who had the camaraderie these guys had, I watched them all through the playoffs, that was neat to see, man,” Carr said. “You don’t see that at this level, you see it in college and high school, there are no selfish guys. Seemed like the place I wanted to be.”
This is a one-year trial for Carr, who after 262 career sacks – including a ghastly 76 as a rookie – is looking to reclaim the form and confidence that once made him a hot commodity. The backup role for the Giants is the cushiest job around, as long as Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning remains healthy.
Given the impossibility of Manning getting unseated, the security of five returning offensive linemen and the winning attitude permeating the franchise, Carr hopes he can get himself right in a pressure-free and hospitable environment and then head elsewhere to reclaim a starting role.
One caveat: He first has to make the team.
Carr missed the first handful of practices with a sore foot (plantar fasciitis) and watched while last year’s backup, Anthony Wright, hit the ground running.
“He has been good in camp,” Coughlin said.
Wright, 32, is in his 10th NFL season and a journeyman. If the Giants truly believed in him, they would not have signed Carr to a one-year deal. The No. 3 quarterback spot likely is reserved for rookie Andre’ Woodson.
Despite his pedigree, Carr is no lock. This version is skinnier, has shaved off almost all his hair and certainly has been humbled. His offensive coordinator in Houston, Chris Palmer, is the Giants quarterback coach, which is a big plus. The question is whether the pummeling Carr has taken has turned him into a shell-shocked, jittery quarterback.
Asked to sum up his mentality with the protection-challenged Texans, Carr said “Survival, man, I was just trying to get back to my kids.”