Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

‘Always optimistic’ Derek Carr once again believes pieces are in place for Raiders

Veteran quarterback enters another season needing team to match his production

Raiders Mini Camp

Steve Marcus

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) fist bumps with John Morton, senior offensive assistant, during a practice at the Raiders facility in Henderson Tuesday, June 15, 2021.

Raiders Mini Camp

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) passes to tight end Darren Waller (83) during a practice at the Raiders facility in Henderson Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Launch slideshow »

Before the Detroit Lions traded Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams this offseason, many bemoaned the fact that the veteran quarterback had never gotten the chance to play for an organization that put a sufficient team around him.

When will Derek Carr be granted a similar level of reverence?

That may sound crazy but based on the numbers Carr has amassed in a seven-year career with the Raiders, it’s a question worth asking. It’s just that the answer doesn’t interest the 30-year-old Carr as he prepares for another season behind center in Las Vegas.

“I know the things I’ve been able to accomplish, and I still want more,” Carr said on a Zoom call with reporters on Tuesday. “There’s still more and I want to do it here; I don’t want to do it anywhere else. I’ve said it over and over again: I’d probably quit football if I had to play for somebody else. I’m a Raider for my entire life…I don’t need a perfect situation to make things right.”

With the offseason trade of guard Gabe Jackson, Carr now stands alone as the longest-tenured player on the Raiders’ roster. The longtime team captain is more in control than ever before, a fact that was evident from the moment the Raiders stepped on practice field early Tuesday morning in Henderson for the first open practice of their mandatory minicamp.  

Carr led his teammates through the stretching period, broke them down with a message to work and set the tone with his own fast pace through the hour-long session.  

He didn’t have the look of a disgruntled employee, though he could probably find reason to be if he so desired. Rumors constantly surround the Raiders’ quarterback position, and it was no different this offseason despite Carr managing a career year in his first season in Las Vegas that saw him rank 11th in the NFL in QBR.

Granted, the rumblings were largely caused by Carr’s own fraternity of starting NFL quarterbacks. Both Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Seattle’s Russell Wilson included the Raiders on a list of teams they were interested in being traded to and reports also briefly linked Houston’s Deshaun Watson to Las Vegas.  

All three of those players expressed some level of frustration with their current franchises, but Carr declined an opportunity to do the same. He can never envision saying a bad word about the Raiders.

“For me, I’d rather go down with the ship if I have to,” Carr said. “That’s just my personality.”

Frankly, he has been going down with the ship — and taken much of the blame for it sinking in the first place. Carr has gone just 47-63 as the Raiders’ starter despite putting up statistics that rank right in the second tier of NFL quarterbacks.

And last year, his numbers were even better than that as Carr completed more than 67% of his passes and threw for 27 touchdowns to nine interceptions at a clip of 7.9 yards per attempt. But the Raiders still finished only 8-8, missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year largely because of a defense that has continually ranked among the league’s worst. The Raiders have never ranked in the top half of the league in defense by Football Outsiders’ DVOA ratings while Carr has been on the team with an average position of 27th out of 32 teams.

But the quarterback arrives annually with the same message, confident that the upcoming season will be the one where the organization turns it around and fixes their long-running problem.   

“I’m always optimistic,” Carr said. “I’m never going to be negative. What’s the point? It’s a waste of time. I don’t get many years in my life to play this game, so I’m not going to waste it with down thoughts. I can’t do it. Secondly, I think we’ve added some pieces in the whole organization that I believe give us a really good chance to win.”

Carr heaped highest praise on new edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue, whom he said was on “a different level.” Other prized free agents seen as the key to turning around the defense have come and gone, or stayed, without making much of an impact.

But there’s a hope that Ngakoue, and his 45.5 sacks over his first five years in the league, can be a real transformative player. The Raiders may have upgraded their talent on offense too, at least among the skill positions.

Carr hasn’t been bereft of weapons around him in the last few years with the emergence of tight end Darren Waller and running back Josh Jacobs, but he’s got a few new options this year. Las Vegas lost last year’s top wide receiver, Nelson Agholor, but Carr sees former Arizona Cardinal and Buffalo Bill John Brown filling a similar role — and he might be more explosive.

They may have also added more big-play ability at running back with another former Cardinal in Kenyan Drake to complement Jacobs. Drake’s two-year, $14.5 million contract was controversial but there’s no question he’s the most complete back the Raiders have paired with Jacobs.

Known as a receiving threat, Drake has already developed a rapport with Carr that’s been visible at offseason practices.

“Keen leadership skills and really commands the attention and respect of everybody in the huddle once we get in there,” Drake said of his early impressions of Carr. “But also, is a real chill, laid-back guy. I’ve been to his house, met his family, had a cookout with him and a few other teammates. He’s just a real open person and player. So, it’s really cool to see from afar how he is and how he manages the team and the team’s success, but up close and personal, I definitely respect the guy and want to continue to see how far we can take this ride this year.”

A winning season might be the only thing standing in the way of Carr receiving more respect out of the organization. The Raiders have finished above .500 only once during his tenure, a 12-4 campaign in 2016 when he got injured late in the year and had to miss a playoff loss to the Texans.

Last season was the team’s best finish since then, and Carr did receive quite a bit of acclaim during a 6-3 start — including an NFL Offensive Player of the Week nod for the team’s upset of the Kansas City Chiefs on the road. But it all went by the wayside when Las Vegas lost five of its final seven games, even though defensive breakdowns were far more to blame than anything on the offensive side of the ball.  

The general consensus is that the Raiders are headed for another similar season as most are picking them near the bottom of the AFC. Carr disagrees; he chooses to keep believing in the Raiders.

“I absolutely love (opinions like), ‘We had the worst offseason,’ all that kind of stuff,” Carr said. “Time will tell; we’ll see. But we believe that we’ve gotten better and we believe that we’re progressing. It’s an exciting time for me. I’m just going to keep downplaying it because I just get tired of talking about it. I can see it, but we have to go do it.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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