Derek Carr explains his approach to blocking people on Twitter

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Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, when it comes to social media, has notoriously thin skin. Skin much thinner than an NFL quarterback should possess.

Carr has a habit of blocking people on Twitter, which prevents others from access his account or seeing his tweets. On Wednesday, Tashan Reed of TheAthletic.com asked why he had been blocked by Carr.

“You probably said something silly,” Carr replied. “You probably said something crazy. I mute and block people all the time. You maybe didn’t even say it about me, you maybe said it about one of my best friends, man. And so I’m sorry that it’s come to this. If you wanna go have lunch, we can have lunch, man. From six feet distance, with masks on. All the protocols. You know, I’m not tryin’ to get in trouble in the city again, you know?

“So we can do that. But I block, man — some of you all probably got blocked on here, too. But we’re still friends. You know? I just don’t want to read the negativity, man. I don’t want someone to tweet it or come at — I don’t wanna see it. So it’s nothin’ personal, man. That’s social media. I’m still me in person, you know?”

If he doesn’t want to see the negativity, the “mute” button handles that. Blocking someone is a much more hostile and combative act, since it not only prevents Carr from seeing tweets that he may not want to see but it also prevents the person who is blocked from seeing Carr’s tweets.

Blocking someone on Twitter is, basically, a social-media middle finger.

Either Carr doesn’t realize that, or he’s not being honest about his approach to using the “block” button. Regardless, he admits that, when it comes to blocking people on Twitter, he’s trigger happy about using it, because he apparently gets more bothered than he should about criticism of his play.