During the offseason, coming off a successful year, Carter was abruptly cut on August 4, 2004 under unclear circumstances. The group of quarterbacks for the Cowboys that offseason had expanded with the trade for yet another former baseball player, Drew Henson, and the acquisition of Vinny Testaverde off waivers. Before Carter's release, it had been projected that he had an edge over Testaverde for the starting role and that third-string quarterback Tony Romo would be waived. League sources eventually revealed that Carter had been released after failing a drug test. He'd already flunked two previous tests and would have to be suspended for the first four games of the season.