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LAS VEGAS
The Raiders and QB DEREK CARR begin divorce proceedings with a separation. Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com:
The Las Vegas Raiders are benching Derek Carr, the team’s starting quarterback since 2014, first-year coach Josh McDaniels said Wednesday.
Jarrett Stidham, acquired in an offseason trade from the New England Patriots, will start against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, and undrafted rookie free agent Chase Garbers will be the backup.
A source confirmed to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that Carr and the Raiders agreed that he will step away from the team for the remainder of the regular season to not be a distraction. He was the lone active Raiders player not to practice Wednesday, with the team listing his absence as “not injury related, personal.”
“The two sides talked about it and thought it was best,” the source said.
Raiders wideout Davante Adams, a college teammate of Carr whom Las Vegas acquired in the offseason via trade with the Green Bay Packers, said he spoke with the quarterback earlier Wednesday but didn’t expand on those conversations.
“Obviously, I don’t think anybody was excited about it in here,” Adams said. “You know, him being one of my really good friends and the reason why I came here in the first place, I mean, I wouldn’t be here right now if he wasn’t here, so I think everybody knows how I feel about him.
“And with that said, there’s a process of how things go, and I’m not going to sit here and go on and on, but obviously I support my guy and we’ve got to finish the season out the best way we can possible with all things considered.”
Carr, who holds virtually every passing record in franchise history, had signed a three-year, $121.5 million contract extension in the spring, but he could be cut for a $5.625 million salary-cap hit if the move is made within three days of the Super Bowl. His $32.9 million salary for next year and $7.5 million of his 2024 salary would be fully guaranteed should he be injured.
Sources told Fowler that the Raiders made this move in part to maintain Carr’s health and keep their options open this offseason, including for a potential trade. The sources did note that the option for Carr to return in 2023 is still on the table.
McDaniels said there was no “finality” in the decision to shut down Carr.
“None of us is happy with where we’re at, but we think it’s an opportunity to evaluate a younger player who hasn’t had much time to play,” McDaniels said. “Derek was great. He understands the scenario that we’re in and the situation and is very supportive of the two young guys. He’ll do anything he can to help them.”
Carr has struggled in his first season under the Raiders’ new regime of McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler. Carr has an NFL-high and career-high-tying 14 interceptions, and his passer rating of 86.3 is his lowest since his rookie season.
Stidham, a 2019 fourth-round pick, will be making his first career start Sunday. He is 8-for-13 for 72 yards in three games this season.
“He can spin the ball,” Raiders running back Josh Jacobs said. “He’s been in the system longer than any quarterback we’ve had here. So he knows what’s going on. He knows what reads to make. It’s going to be fun to see him in the game.”
The Raiders also placed a pair of veteran defensive players on injured reserve in defensive end Chandler Jones and linebacker Denzel Perryman. They suffered left elbow and left shoulder injuries, respectively, against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday.
Las Vegas, a playoff team a year ago at 10-7 under interim coach Rich Bisaccia, is 6-9 and still mathematically alive for a playoff spot as it closes the regular season against the 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.
Carr’s streak of 91 straight games with a start will end. It was 2nd-longest behind 108 for QB TOM BRADY/
Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com looks at a possible market for Carr. Hard to believe he wrote all this in the few hours since Carr was benched:
Derek Carr was never the problem with the Raiders, but in his last act as a member of the organization, he’ll need to solve what’s wrong with it. After a loss to the Steelers left Las Vegas with less than a 1% chance of making it to the postseason, coach Josh McDaniels & Co. decided to cut bait on the season and bench their longtime quarterback, signalling that they expect to move on from him in the offseason.
In doing so, the Raiders are protecting themselves from being stuck with Carr in 2023. As I wrote about back in June, the three-year, $121.5 million “extension” Carr signed during the spring was really a totally different deal. The team gave him $5.1 million in new money and a no-trade clause.
In return, the Raiders retained the right to keep Carr on a three-year, $116 million deal starting in 2023, one that didn’t produce any real guarantees until after the 2022 season ended. In other words, they gave themselves a window to move on from him if this season didn’t go as planned. Carr’s new contract does have injury guarantees, so by benching him for the season-ending games against the 49ers and Chiefs, the franchise is ensuring he doesn’t get hurt.
It has been an uneven season for the 6-9 Raiders, who have had 12 of their games decided by seven points or fewer. Unsurprisingly, as I wrote about in August, they were unlikely to win as many of those close games again. A team on the cusp of contention would be smart to trade first- and second-round picks for Davante Adams, as the Raiders did in February. Again, as I wrote at the time of that deal, the star receiver wasn’t likely to offset Vegas’ issues elsewhere on the roster and give it a chance of competing in the AFC West.
Carr threw three interceptions in the Steelers loss and has nine picks over his past five games, but on the whole he has been his usual above-average self this season. He ranks 13th in QBR after ranking 14th in 2021, 11th in 2020 and 10th in 2019. His interception rate, a career-high 2.8%, is likely to regress back toward the mean after the season. His completion percentage and yards per attempt dropped way below his averages under former coach Jon Gruden between 2018 and 2021, but he is averaging more yards per completion this season.
The 31-year-old is one of the few remaining members in the quarterback middle class, a group that seems less valuable than it ever has. Every team wants a Patrick Mahomes or a Josh Allen, but there are only a few of them on the planet, and they’re not available via trade. With the top of the market growing more and more expensive, meanwhile, quarterbacks on rookie deals have become even more valuable for teams looking to spend money throughout their roster.
Carr, a solid quarterback on a deal just below the top of the market, costs more like the stars and plays more like the rookies. He has a higher floor than most other passers, but that’s not an exciting combination. Alongside quarterbacks such as Kirk Cousins, Jimmy Garoppolo and Ryan Tannehill, his stability seems tantalizing to some teams and uninteresting to others.
Now, with the Raiders struggling through a frustrating season and missing an entire core of talent because of the mistakes made in the Gruden era (and the Adams trade), they will bring Carr to the trade market and hope they land something in return. Carr has a no-trade clause, which will allow him to maintain plenty of leverage as the Raiders negotiate, but both sides have something to gain. He will make more on the deal he has negotiated than he would on the open market. Las Vegas would love to get some draft capital to replenish its roster and cap space to go after Carr’s replacement.
Let’s run through what the Carr benching means for the rest of the league. There are organizations that will pursue Carr and teams that will want other teams to go after Carr so they can get the quarterback they really want. There are also passers who suddenly have a lot more leverage than they did yesterday. We’ll start with Carr himself.
Now what for Derek Carr?
From the moment Carr signed his extension with the Raiders in April, he and his representation had to be preparing for this possibility. I’m not sure this deal made sense at the time for Carr, who could have played out the final year of his contract in 2022 and either hit free agency, earned a franchise tag or signed a new deal with much more leverage. He gave the Raiders cost certainty and didn’t get much in return.
Now, to stay on that contract, he will need to find a team that suits his liking and one willing to give the Raiders meaningful draft capital to get a deal done. It might make more sense for the Raiders to simply settle for the best possible offer as opposed to insisting on more meaningful compensation, but teams are not particularly logical when it comes to quarterback trades.
Take the Commanders last year. The Colts all but kicked Carson Wentz out the door after the season and put a blinking “AVAILABLE” sign on the quarterback’s back. There was little market for a veteran who had run himself out of two cities in two years and had about $28 million in guaranteed money coming due for the 2022 season.
Not only did the Commanders trade for Wentz, but they swapped second-round picks and sent a conditional third-rounder to the Colts for the privilege of doing so. Coach Ron Rivera justified the deal before it was done by saying the Commanders did not particularly care about how much it cost to obtain a quarterback if they landed the “right guy,” pointing toward the Rams’ trade for Matthew Stafford as proof. And if you just want to point toward Rivera, remember that the Bears sent a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars in 2020 to get Jacksonville out of the Nick Foles deal.
Carr will have a market on his existing deal, and while he’s unlikely to get as much guaranteed money as a free agent, he’ll have more teams interested if they don’t have to attach draft picks to acquire him. There might be a middle ground in which a team trades a pick to acquire Carr and either gives him a new contract or restructures his existing deal. Either way, if he wants to play in 2023, he’ll have an opportunity somewhere.
Where will that be? Let’s start with one obvious landing spot and what that would mean for that team’s starter …
Tennessee Titans
The last time the Raiders had this disappointing of a season was back in 2017, when a team fueled by close victories the season before thought it was a Super Bowl contender, only to fall back to the pack. (We had them in our crosshairs back then, too.)
Jack Del Rio’s team didn’t have many things go right that season. Among their offseason moves was firing offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and promoting quarterbacks coach Todd Downing into the role. Downing had a disastrous season and was fired along with the rest of the coaching staff after that season, but the 42-year-old built a great rapport with Carr, who called him a “great coach” after his departure.
Downing is now the offensive coordinator with the Titans, who find themselves at a crossroads. Their offense has struggled to move the ball throughout the season, relying almost entirely on their red zone success to carry the offense. Star running back Derrick Henry is 28 and hasn’t been able to establish his 2018-20 level of play over the past two seasons, as he has been less efficient and has less reliably broken off the sort of big plays that made him a star. He’ll also be entering the final year of his contract next season.
The same is true for quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who is owed an unguaranteed $27 million next season. He was ruthlessly efficient on play-action early in his tenure with the Titans and earned a new deal in 2020, but he was the scapegoat when a top-seeded Tennessee team was one and done last postseason. He has been better this season, but there are realistic questions about whether a passer who throws as infrequently and relies so heavily on play-action as Tannehill is a good investment on a new contract.
Carr is a more complete quarterback than Tannehill. He’s a better pre-snap processor, often a more accurate thrower and has shouldered a much heavier volume of work than his Tennessee counterpart. He also has been healthier, having missed just two starts during his career, and is nearly three years younger. The Titans just drafted Malik Willis in the third round in April, but as we’ve seen from the Liberty product in his spot starts, he is a ways away from being ready for the starting job.
Trading for Carr would give the Titans a quarterback on a slightly more expensive contract, but they would land a more accomplished player with a better track record of both playing well and staying on the field. It’s unclear whether the Titans will bring back Downing in 2023, but if they do, a fit between the former Raiders offensive coordinator and quarterback would make sense. Tannehill — who’s likely to miss the rest of the season because of an ankle injury — seemed like a lock to return to Tennessee next season, if only for one more year; now, his future seems much more uncertain.
Atlanta Falcons
It has been easy to envision another reunion involving a former coach in Tennessee. The Falcons are moving on from Marcus Mariota, and while they spent a third-round pick on Desmond Ridder, teams don’t usually let that sort of capital stand in their way if they think a better quarterback is coming available in the draft or free agency. Atlanta will also have cap space next offseason for the first time in years, leaving it in position to absorb a larger contract at quarterback if it can acquire that passer on the cheap.
While the Falcons could make a move for Carr, I wonder if this move makes a reunion between Tannehill and former Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith more likely in Atlanta. Tannehill’s best stretch came with the then-unheralded Smith as his offensive coordinator with the Titans in 2019 and 2020, and the former college wide receiver helped propel Smith’s career into a head-coaching opportunity.
Even if the Falcons draft a quarterback in the first round — ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) projects them to have the No. 7 pick — Tannehill could figure as the bridge option in 2023 before hitting free agency in 2024.
New York Jets
No team in the league is crying out for a reliably above-average quarterback more than the Jets, who have fielded one of the league’s best defenses for the past three months. Gang Green hasn’t had a passer start 12 games with an above-average passer rating in back-to-back seasons since Ken O’Brien in 1990 and 1991. O’Brien is the only guy to do it since Joe Namath left town.
The Jets have tried all kinds of solutions to solve their problems, of course. In addition to importing veterans Brett Favre and Vinny Testaverde, their most recent tactic has been to use top-three picks on quarterbacks, only for Sam Darnold and Zach Wilson to fail to live up to expectations.
Wilson’s future with the organization is uncertain after he was benched during last Thursday’s loss to the Jaguars. It appears the Jets will leave Wilson inactive as the third quarterback for the remainder of the season, which suggests they, too, want to keep a possible trade candidate healthy for the offseason.
It might seem wild to think a quarterback floundering as badly as Wilson would have any sort of trade market, but remember that the Cardinals got a second-round pick for Josh Rosen in 2019, while the Jaguars were able to trade Blaine Gabbert to the 49ers for a late-round selection in 2014. Coaches who had a positive grade on Wilson coming into the draft will want an opportunity to mold him into a franchise quarterback, and with a little over $9 million remaining on his existing deal, he is being paid like a mid-tier backup passer.
According to former NFL offensive lineman Tyler Polumbus, who played under McDaniels in Denver, the longtime Patriots assistant was not shy about his abilities. After trading away Jay Cutler, McDaniels reportedly said he could turn a high school quarterback into an All-Pro. Wilson might not be living up to expectations so far, but if McDaniels is still optimistic about his ability to mold young passers into stars, he’s not going to get a chance to acquire a top-five quarterback for less than what Wilson might go for this spring.
I could see a scenario in which a trade involving Carr and Wilson made sense, although the Jets would need to send draft picks or young players alongside their embattled quarterback to get a deal done. The Raiders are currently projected to own the No. 8 overall pick by ESPN’s FPI, so while they should be in range of landing a quarterback if there’s one McDaniels likes, Wilson would be another way to add a young passer with (so far theoretical) upside.
There’s another quarterback who seemed like an obvious fit for the Jets in the offseason, and in the long run, they might prefer to save the draft capital and go after him instead. With the Raiders’ starting job about to open, though, the Jets have some serious competition for a free agent …
Jimmy Garoppolo
When the Raiders inked that deal with Carr and left themselves a window to get out of the contract in 2023, two people came to mind. I’ll get to the second one in a moment, but the first was Garoppolo. With the 49ers trading to move up in the 2021 draft for Trey Lance and installing him as the starter before this season, it seemed exceedingly likely that the longtime starter in San Francisco was going to hit unrestricted free agency in spring 2023.
Moving on from Carr would open up a window for McDaniels to pursue his former pupil from New England. Garoppolo spent the first three-and-a-half seasons of his career as the backup for the Patriots, where McDaniels was the offensive coordinator. While Garoppolo unquestionably learned a lot from Kyle Shanahan over the ensuing five-and-a-half seasons in San Francisco, he launched his career and grew into an NFL-caliber passer while working under McDaniels.
Garoppolo is a more limited passer than Carr, but he might be a better fit if McDaniels wants to run the same sort of offense he ran in New England. (For what it’s worth, his scheme in Las Vegas has generally been more of a downfield passing attack than the quick-game-heavy approach we saw from the Tom Brady era.) Carr has seemed to get lost for stretches as he has learned what is widely regarded as a complicated offense under McDaniels, but Garoppolo grew up within the Patriots playbook.
For Jimmy G, Carr’s arrival on the market could have one of two effects. The Raiders are a clear suitor for Garoppolo, which could make teams such as the Jets more desperate to acquire him in free agency. On the other hand, with a similarly effective quarterback on the market in Carr, there’s another high-floor, low-ceiling passer available. Teams that don’t see a big difference between the two might be willing to wait out the market to see if Carr gets cut and then bid for both in free agency. Given how teams treat quarterbacks, my suspicion is they’ll think more like the former scenario than the latter.
Tom Brady
Oh, here’s the other quarterback who came to mind last year. While there was a scenario in which Garoppolo was traded to another team and signed an extension before even hitting free agency, Brady’s path toward the open market was free and clear. The 45-year-old is an unrestricted free agent after the season, and amid a wildly frustrating season in Tampa Bay, it certainly seems like his time with the Buccaneers is coming to a close.
This hasn’t exactly been Brady’s best season, and it’s entirely possible the legendary passer chooses to retire. The last time we were having these same conversations about Brady was in 2019, though, when the future Hall of Famer was about to hit free agency amid a frustrating season with the Patriots. Buoyed by a fresh group of playmakers in a warmer climate, a resurgent Brady looked more like his former self and won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay.
I’m not sure the Adams trade was the right move for the Raiders at the time given their chances of winning a Super Bowl with Carr in the mix, but it’s hard to argue against the team having a great group of playmakers. In Adams, Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller, Brady would have both obvious corollaries to players from his past and a potentially devastating group of playmakers. I ranked Vegas second in my playmaker rankings before the season, and that was before Josh Jacobs had a breakout campaign. The Raiders should challenge the Bengals for the league’s top spot next year.
Vegas’ offensive line is a work in progress, but it has a very good left tackle in Kolton Miller. Like the Bucs in 2020 with Tristan Wirfs, it wouldn’t be a surprise if a Raiders team with Brady used its first-round pick to address the line, in the hopes that two building blocks at tackle would be enough to give the quarterback all the time he needs. The Raiders could land tackles Peter Skoronski (Northwestern) or Paris Johnson Jr. (Ohio State) with the No. 8 pick. If the Raiders land a meaningful pick for Carr, that selection could also be a way to target offensive line help.
The 46-year-old Brady won’t be a long-term solution. Given that he would be a lock to start in 2023 and expected to start in 2024, the Raiders could acquire him to start and target a younger quarterback such as Wilson to serve as his backup. Even if Brady just buys the Raiders a year, it would be a shock if McDaniels didn’t want to link up with the quarterback he coached for most of the past two decades.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
If the Buccaneers lose Brady this offseason, they would be in the market for a new quarterback. They could opt for a cheaper solution, given they’re currently $43 million over the projected 2023 cap before making restructures, but this is a veteran team built to win now around Brady. Once Brady is out of the picture, I’m not sure it makes sense for a team with center Ryan Jensen, wide receiver Mike Evans and linebacker Lavonte David to go after a 22-year-old rookie or a reclamation project such as Wilson. Kyle Trask, whom the Bucs drafted in Round 2 after their Super Bowl win, hasn’t inspired much excitement locally.
It’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which the Bucs land Garoppolo, given how many teams have ties to either Bill Belichick or Kyle Shanahan and can offer Garoppolo a more familiar landing spot. Carr doesn’t have as many ties around the league, though, and the Bucs would offer him the opportunity to prove the Raiders wrong, just as Brady did with the Patriots.
Given how messy the NFC South looks right now and over the next couple of seasons, Carr’s high floor would make the Bucs favorites to win another division title in 2023. I’m not sure he’s a great fit for the Buccaneers stylistically, given how often they prefer to throw downfield, but he’s the best quarterback likely to come available to Tampa Bay over the next six months.
New England Patriots
There’s another quarterback who might make sense for the post-Carr Raiders because of his work with McDaniels. Mac Jones got his career off to a promising start last season under McDaniels in New England, with the 2021 first-rounder finishing 16th in the league in QBR. The Patriots did a good job of shielding Jones from need-to-throw situations by dialing up conservative concepts on third down and playing great defense, but by the end of his rookie season, he looked like he was well on the path to becoming the next great starter in New England.
It hasn’t exactly gone well in Year 2. With McDaniels in Las Vegas, an offense directed by Joe Judge and Matt Patricia has struggled to give Jones easy solutions. The second-year quarterback seems to have lost his confidence and spends most games furiously yelling at his coaches, the referees and anyone else who gets in his way. (Tackling people who get in Jones’ way happens only if the player isn’t carrying the football at the time.) Jones’ 32.3 QBR ranks 32nd out of 33 qualifying passers, and with Baker Mayfield surging in Los Angeles, Jones might end the season as the league’s worst quarterback by QBR.
Bill Belichick has a great defense, and while the Patriots don’t have many playmakers at receiver, I wonder if Belichick thinks he can win 11 or 12 games with a higher-floor quarterback than the one he has. Everything I just said about McDaniels’ relationship with Brady and Garoppolo obviously also applies to Belichick, and the Patriots would have to consider a reunion with one of their former quarterbacks if it were an option.
There’s a universe in which the Raiders trade Carr to another team, Brady or Garoppolo end up in New England and the Pats deal Jones to the Raiders as their new long-term quarterback. If McDaniels believed in Jones enough to get behind drafting the 24-year-old in the first round in New England, he should value Jones as a possible solution with the Raiders. I’m not sure the Patriots match up well in a player-for-player deal — and Jones might not be worth a first-round pick after two years of his rookie deal — but the 40th pick would be a logical starting point in a possible Jones swap.
This also seems like a logical place to mention that McDaniels might not be the Raiders’ coach next season. I don’t think team owner Mark Davis is likely to fire his new coach after a disappointing first season in Vegas, but I also suspect an owner who signed off on a trade for Adams thought the Raiders had Super Bowl potential this season. If Sean Payton is willing to come to Vegas and he can bring along Brady, would Davis cut ties with McDaniels and move on?
I suspect Patriots fans would be willing to pay the remainder of McDaniels’ deal to bring him back to New England, given how poorly the offense has run without the longtime coordinator. It’s still too early to draw long-term conclusions about whether McDaniels is cut out for the head-coaching life, but he has been a very good coordinator for the vast majority of his time under Belichick. If the Raiders use this as a pretense for starting over, the Patriots should welcome McDaniels back with open arms.
Houston Texans
Wait, the Texans? They figure in here, too. I don’t think they should be a realistic landing spot for Carr given how far away they lurk from contention, but they are impacted by the new opening in Vegas. Brady doesn’t make sense for the Texans, but longtime Patriots executive Nick Caserio might have made a run for Garoppolo, especially if he wanted to use Houston’s first-round pick on Alabama star Will Anderson Jr. (Alabama), the draft’s best defensive player.
Now, with the Raiders in the market for a quarterback, the slim chances of Garoppolo ending up in Houston seem closer to nil. As a result, it also seems more likely that the Texans will use their top pick, which still projects to be the No. 1 overall selection, on a quarterback, such as Bryce Young (Alabama) or Will Levis (Kentucky).
Indianapolis Colts
If any team needed a Hail Mary solution to solve its quarterback woes, it’s the Colts, who have absolutely nothing to show for years of investments under center after Andrew Luck’s retirement. Indy is likely to cut veteran Matt Ryan after the season, while Nick Foles is on backup money and Sam Ehlinger won’t figure into the starting battle. The Colts could draft a quarterback in the first round, or they could use the midround pick they’re getting from the Commanders to target Carr in a trade.
The Colts traded for Ryan and struck out, which might scare Colts fans targeting another quarterback currently being cast off by his existing team, but Carr is much younger and has been more productive in recent seasons. Trading for him would lock the Colts in for $32.9 million in 2023 and $7.5 million in 2024, although the team could redo his deal as part of a swap.
If general manager Chris Ballard wants to use his first-round pick to address issues on the offensive or defensive lines or in the secondary, Carr would be a logical solution. Frankly, after years of landing on short-term or low-ceiling options at quarterback, I would expect the Colts to take a bigger swing this offseason than Carr. Given what has happened over the past three months, though, I’m not going to pretend that I understand or can predict what they are going to do.
The rest of the NFL
There are several teams that figure to be at least moderately interested in Carr as their quarterback for 2023 and 2024, particularly those narrowly outside or inside the playoff picture. Many of those borderline teams would upgrade at quarterback by adding Carr, and they don’t have obvious paths to long-term solutions under center.
The Carr story is good news for them and bad news for their incumbent quarterbacks. It’s good for the Giants that they might be able to add a solid veteran starter overnight in Carr, but it’s not great news for Daniel Jones, who could be competing with a much better passer in the open market. The same is true for the Commanders with likely cap casualty Carson Wentz, the Lions with Jared Goff and the Seahawks with Geno Smith.
Las Vegas Raiders
This all comes back to the Raiders, who are back in the quarterback market for the first time since selecting Carr in the second round of the 2014 draft. It’s possible they sit Carr over these next two weeks, don’t like their options and bring him back for 2023, but this seems like the end. No team is going to sit its franchise quarterback for two weeks while it has even a plausible chance of making it to the postseason. If this were just about keeping Carr healthy for 2023, they would have put him on injured reserve with a minor issue.
I’ve laid out various quarterback options and paths for the Raiders in the sections above, but what’s more important than the specific passer or solution they choose is being realistic about where they stand. McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler didn’t do a good enough job of self-scouting the roster after taking this job, which led to the Adams trade and paying a veteran receiver market-value money while giving up first- and second-round picks in the process. Adams is still great, but he isn’t as good at 30 as he was at 29, and he’s not likely to get better over the remainder of his deal.
Barring peak Brady showing up in Las Vegas, the Raiders are not a quarterback away from winning the Super Bowl. They’re missing a lot of talent up front and on the back end of their defense, and the short-term moves they made to patch those holes in the final years of the Jon Gruden era and this offseason haven’t worked. The ones that have, for players such as linebacker Denzel Perryman, aren’t long-term solutions. They’re not going to compete with the Chiefs by plugging eight holes in free agency every year.
If McDaniels thinks there’s a franchise passer in the draft and trades up to grab him, the Raiders will be all-in with him and this core of talent. Unless that guy is Mahomes 2.0, there’s not enough on this roster to make that work. Even if he’s Mahomes, I don’t think they have the offensive line or the defense to thrive in the AFC West. Raiders fans don’t want to face another rebuild, but topping out at 10 wins and losing in the wild-card round isn’t thrilling anyone, either.
For nearly a decade, that has been Carr’s lot with the organization. He has never been the problem or the player holding back the team, as tempting as it has been for Raiders fans to suggest in those moments he has struggled. He might not have been a huge value on his old deal or his new one. He might not have had the ceiling of Mahomes or Justin Herbert. He might not have been the most exciting quarterback in football.
In an organization that has spent two decades trying to battle incompetence, cycling through bad plans and drafting poorly, though, Carr’s stability and solid play were positives. There are lots of ways the Raiders can go from here, but I wonder if they’ll look back and wish they kept Carr as opposed to the guys who will be around next year. |
