Las Vegas, NV– On December 12th, 2022 the Las Vegas Raiders announced they were going to begin shopping Derek Carr to the rest of the NFL after deciding to bench him prior to their Week 17 matchup vs. the 49ers in an effort to keep him healthy in order to do what the public saw as inevitable.
Carr has been one of the more consistent players on the Raiders roster, drafted in 2014 out of Fresno State, he has been a familiar face on a team which has seen much turnover. In his 9 seasons with the team, Carr has skyrocketed his way and established himself to be the Raiders franchise quarterback.
However, it’d be a lie to state that Carr’s tenure in Las Vegas has been anything but consistent. It’s been feast or famine for the 31-year old, with seasons of poverty-struck luck, and dominant years where Carr seems to have made statements that he was the Raiders’ guy.
Carr’s led Raiders have only achieved .500 or better 3 times under Carr’s leadership, going 12-4 in 2016, 8-8 in 2020, and 10-7 in 2021. Every other year has been filled with disappointment despite an All-Pro quarterback under center. In that span, the quarterback has thrown for 35,222 yards, solidifying himself as the Raiders all-time leading passer. Paired with 217 touchdowns, Derek Carr has had an illustrious career in Las Vegas and prior, Oakland.
But, the time has come, nearing the end of an up and down campaign with the Raiders. The writing was on the wall as Carr’s contract demands a $34,875,000 cap hit in 2023, over 15% of the team’s cap space. With arguably one of the better teams the Raiders have holstered in recent years, Carr couldn’t manage to muster much out of it, going 6-11 in 2022, an anemic end to an exciting offseason. The Raiders made splashes on the trade block by giving Carr a new toy to play with in superstar wide receiver Davante Adams, acquired in a trade from Green Bay.
Even with the extra weapon on offense, the Raiders offense couldn’t seem to muster up much of… quite frankly anything, with WR2 Hunter Renfroe being anything but productive. Jarrett Stidham got the final two starts of the season and looked like he outplayed Carr at times, a bad sign for a quarterback on contract through 2025.
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With the Raiders’ team announcement, it officially marks the beginning of the Raiders rebuild. That begs the question though, what to do about the other large pieces on Las Vegas’ chessboard? Aforementioned Davante Adams marks $25,350,000 against the cap in 2023 and is on contract through the 2026 season. It’s also worth to note that one of Adams’ biggest factors in coming to Las Vegas was his connection with Carr, a former teammate in college. It’ll be interesting to see how big of an impact Carr’s departure has on the rest of the Raiders roster.
Carr bid the Raiders and their fans adieu via Twitter, where he stated, “I never envisioned it ending it this way. That fire burning inside of me to win a championship still rages.” It’s clear that Carr isn’t hanging up his cleats anytime soon, and with the right pieces he could be the finishing piece for a team that’s on the verge.
