MIDDLETOWN, Ohio – Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Cris
Carter, one of only two players in NFL history with more than 1,000
receptions, plans to retire after the upcoming season, The Middletown
Journal reported Thursday.
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Carter, No. 2 behind Jerry Rice in both receptions and touchdown catches, made the announcement Wednesday night during a banquet speech here, where he went to high school.
"There's certain forces and emotions that I can't stop that are
going to force me to make this decision to move on to my next
career," Carter told Twin Cities radio station KFAN Thursday.
Carter, 35, had previously said he would return for at least one more season, but he hadn't announced when he would retire.
"Just where everything began, right here in Middletown, I think
that, at this point, I'm going to make the announcement that this
will be my last year of playing," Carter said.
Carter said at the banquet Wednesday he felt he was still on top
of his game.
"It's not because I can't play anymore," he said. "It's not because I don't love it anymore. It's because my assignment in the NFL is complete as a player."
Carter caught his 1,000th pass last season and finished the year with 1,020; Rice has 1,281. Carter also played in his eighth consecutive Pro Bowl.
"He feels this is his last year," Vikings coach Dennis Green
said Thursday. "Not because he doesn't think he can play anymore,
but because he feels this is the last time to leave the game."
Carter's agent, Mitchell Frankel, told The Associated Press he hadn't yet spoken to Carter since his announcement.
"We've talked that this could be his last year, but he never
told me that this was going to be his last year," Frankel said.
"He didn't tell me he was going to be saying anything about it."
Frankel said Carter has discussed retirement with him several
times during the past couple years.
"It's hard for me to tell what this means," Frankel said. "It
wouldn't surprise me if he said he was 100 percent sure he was
retiring at the end of the year. But it also wouldn't surprise me
if he was just saying that, as of today, he thought he'd be
retiring at the end of the year."
Frankel said he's seen Carter several times a week since the Vikings' season ended in January and noticed no differences in his client.
"He seems exactly the same," Frankel said from his home.
"He's living exactly the same, and working out exactly the same."
Carter is the Vikings' all-time leader in touchdowns (104) and
receiving yards (11,512).
He has talked about a broadcasting career after football, and
was to miss the Vikings' minicamp this weekend to work as an
analyst Sunday on DirectTV's broadcast of an NFL Europe game.
Carter spoke at the Pigskin-Roundball Spectacular banquet, which
honors the accomplishments of Middletown and Ohio athletes and
coaches. He and his brother, Butch, former coach of the NBA's
Toronto Raptors, were the main attraction.
Carter recalled going 60 yards for a touchdown the first time he
touched the ball in a 1973 game in Middletown.
"It's hard to believe that in the year 2001 I'd still be running touchdowns. ... but for those of you who still haven't seen me play, please try to check me out this year."
Carter said he remembered being ridiculed for setting high goals
in high school. He saw a pair of bronzed shoes belonging to NBA
Hall of Famer Jerry Lucas, another former Middletown High product,
and told his friends he wanted to someday have his name in the
same trophy case right next to Lucas' shoes.
"That's it," Carter deadpanned. "I'd walk the halls and see those shoes, and I'd tell everybody that I would get my name in there someday. And I was foolish enough to try and do it."
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