For the second time in his 15-year career, Cris Carter was cast aside.

That's a shame. This time, he can't be rescued by a $100 check from the Minnesota Vikings in a waiver claim. Because Carter couldn't find the right team or the right salary, he retired last week to a broadcasting career at HBO.

Like so many retired players, his exit slightly tarnishes the body of work during his career, which is unfair for a player with sure-fire Hall of Fame numbers. That ill-conceived trip to Cleveland that cost him a sure job with the St. Louis Rams hurt his image. So did his many sideline outbursts last season.

In the NFL, it's rare to have a good exit. It's not like the NBA in which the David Robinsons and Patrick Ewings can decide to limit their minutes and fade into retirements as role players. Contracts aren't fully guaranteed in the NFL. The older the player, the less teams want to pay him and careers tend to end abruptly.

	Getting It Done
	Cris Carter was one of the most statistically successful wide receivers in NFL history. His 1,093 receptions and 129 touchdown catches rank second in history to Jerry Rice, and his 13,833 yards are behind only Rice and James Lofton. Carter's career yardage total includes eight straight 1,000-yard seasons from 1993-2000.
		Total	NFL Rank
	Receptions	1,093	2nd
	TD Receptions	129	2nd
	Receiving yards	13,833*	3rd
	*8 consec. 1,000-yd. seasons ('93-'00)

A year ago, Carter announced that the 2001 season was going to be his last. At the age of 36, Carter caught 73 passes for 871 and six touchdowns. It broke a string of eight seasons in which he had 1,000-yard numbers. After the season, Carter felt he wanted to play one more year, but the right situation didn't work out.

The question now is how will Carter be remembered? Simply as one of the NFL's alltime great receivers. The numbers alone bear that claim. He caught 1,093 passes for 13,833 yards and 129 touchdowns. Only Jerry Rice tops Carter in the NFL record book. But the numbers don't tell the full story.

The debate going around is whether Carter is better than Michael Irvin, Andre Reed, Art Monk and James Lofton. Critics of Carter say that those four receivers grabbed the Super Bowl appearances that Carter missed during his 15-year career.

It can be argued in Carter's favor that he meant more to his franchise than those receivers even though each one of them is in that elite class of player. Like Irvin, Carter established a confidence and accountability in the locker room. Like Monk, he was the possession receiver. Like Reed, Carter made the job of the quarterback easier. Like Lofton, Carter scored touchdowns.

Carter's legacy, though, is how he carried the Vikings offense through most of the 1990s and into the next century. From 1991 through 2000, the Vikings missed the playoffs only in 1995. Forgotten is the fact that the Vikings accomplished that level of play having new quarterbacks every season.

Carter didn't have the benefit of having the year-to-year progression of developing an offense around a Troy Aikman or Jim Kelly. That's an amazing tribute to former Vikings coach Dennis Green and to Carter.

It became Carter's job to be the stabilizing force in the huddle. It was his job to make the quarterbacks feel settled. Quarterbacks gain confidence by throwing to receivers who are open and make catches.

From 1993 through 2000, Carter caught between 78 and 122 balls a year regardless of the quarterback.

"There were stretches of the season in which Cris would carry the entire team," said current Vikings coach Mike Tice. "He'd go two or three weeks and he'd do everything to keep the offense moving. He's a great, great player."

Because Carter was successful for so long, he set a standard for the division. NFC Central rivals copied the Vikings in trying to find bigger, more physical receivers. Carter was 6-3, 208. He was strong enough to throw aside cornerbacks trying to stop him at the line. He was punishing when necessary, delivering big blocks on running plays.

Pretty soon, the NFC Central became a division of matchup problems annually for the four AFC teams that had to play them each year. Those AFC defenses knew they couldn't successfully survive those four games with small, non-physical cornerbacks.

And defenses knew that going against the Vikings, Carter would be causing problems all day. If he didn't beat you with his routes or blocks, he'd burn you with his hands. His hands were as exceptional as his on-the-field smarts.

Carter was a winner.

Those little things when executed on every play often turn into victories. More importantly, that type of professionalism carried over to the young players on the roster. Where Carter set a standard is how he related to the young players on his team.

As the 1990s closed out, younger players need role models in the locker room. Many of the young players lacked disciplined. Because they had so much money entering the league, they were more independent than the players from the 1970s and 1980s.

Carter became the model of the type of leader coaches sought. For one, his past translated to players in their early 20s entering the league. Carter used to run the streets in his early days. Earlier than most, he learned of the problems that caused.

So he cleaned up his life in the early 1990s and became an ordained minister. Now, general managers and coaches are always on the lookout for Carter-type players to add to the locker room. The Redskins kept receiver Irving Fryar around for those purposes. Linebacker Bryan Cox is that type of locker room presence that teams can't have enough of.

The critics who look back and say Carter was selfish forget the reality that Carter did everything in the context of winning for his team. Like so few players, Carter kept evolving and continued to be more relevant in helping the modern day football player.

Case in point. Carter knew that staying in shape year round was where this league was heading. Competition was so fierce that the old days of going to training camp to stay in shape was only going to shorten careers.

So Carter established a training center in Southern Florida for athletes. First, he made sure many of his young teammates came to Florida to work out with him. Draft choices train there. Veterans train there.

More than just catching the football, Carter touched more careers of other players than can be tabulated in the official book of NFL stats. The Vikings paid $100 to take advantage of Buddy Ryan's mistake in thinking Carter was too slow.

Carter worked with Green in making the Vikings a force in the NFC. For them, he was the catch of the century.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.