Opinion: What’s the Deal With Derek Carr? (or a Fond Farewell)

I'd like to preface this article by saying that I am not a sports writer, just a fan of football and sports in general. The thing I love about sports is the camaraderie. You lift up your teammates and your teammates lift you up. The raw hatred for your opponent before a game, and mutual respect immediately after. The thing I love about sports is the respect between players, coaches and organizations. Derek Carr's unceremonious departure from the Raiders, and the distinct lack of respect is why I'm writing this today. 

First things first, I'm a 49ers fan. My grandpa was a 49ers fan, I was born in the early 90s so I got to see the back end of Steve Young and Jerry Rice, and was hooked from there. My dad though, was a Raider fan. My history with the Raiders starts with my dad watching games and I can still remember his utter disappointment when the Raiders lost in the Superbowl to Jon Gruden and the Buccaneers back in 2003. But my history of the Raiders doesn't stop with my dad.

Derek Carr was a hometown hero to many people in Fresno. His brother David played for the Bulldogs from 1997-2001 and was the number one overall pick by the newly expanded Houston Texans in 2002. Derek came to Fresno State and with a little time lived up to a lot of the same hype that David had created, even surpassing several of his records. I went to Cal (#GoBears), and my wife went to a school in Napa, but my wife was immediately enamored with Carr due to his interviews and T.V. appearances. He came across as a good man and a Christian. He always seemed to thank God for what he had, and due to some complications with his son he gave a lot back to the Children's Hospital after they helped him recover. 

It came as little surprise to me that my wife immediately became a Raider fan when Carr was drafted to the Oakland Raiders in 2014. It was great, an in-market team meant she could watch him play, and watching alone is boring so having some familiarity with the Raiders I joined her in rooting for Oakland (when the Niners weren't on.) Despite the Raider's lack of success, she was always a fan of Carr, but why? 

Derek Carr is the model player. He's dedicated to his team, he takes responsibility for his mistakes, and never seems to throw anyone under the bus for losses, even when it's warranted. Derek had said back in 2021 that he planned on retiring a Raider. That's Carr as the person. Carr as the player was pretty fun to watch as well. He is the Raider's all-time passing leader, he got the Raiders to the playoffs in 2016 and 2021, which no one since Rich Gannon was able to do. Unfortunately Carr had to break some bones to get them there in 2016 and didn't get to play. Speaking of injuries, prior to Week 17 this season, Carr had the longest active starting streak for an NFL QB at 91 games. Where injuries can derail your season, Carr has been remarkably healthy. 

Carr has also faced plenty of adversity throughout his career and took it like a pro. He's been through four different offensive coordinators and six different head coaches throughout his career with the Raiders. In the same season that his number one receiver (Ruggs) caused a DUI accident resulting in the death of a woman and her dog in Las Vegas, his head coach (Gruden) was forced to resign due to leaks of racist and misogynistic emails in the middle of the season. But as a fan of the Niners, the most striking bit of adversity has been the Raider's defenses. Carr has been a part of teams with some of the worst defenses in the last 10 years. (Post CBS pic of defensive rankings.) 

Carr has always taken the slings and arrows from reporters and fans as not being good enough. He's taken it in stride and has always strived to make the team better. In 2021, despite the adversity, Carr helped his team reach the playoffs, losing their divisional game to the Bengals who would go on to play the Rams in the Superbowl. But let's not kid ourselves, this wasn't a blowout by the Bengals. The Raiders had a chance to win the game in the closing minutes but couldn't pull it off. But, you can also argue that Carr’s interception sealed their fate. After such a tumultuous and yet productive season, it goes without saying that many fans thought the Raiders were ready to move forward and would only get better come 2022.

A Hopeful Pre-Season

During the off-season, owner Mark Davis decided to take the keys from then interim head coach Rich Bisaccia and hand them over to general manager Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels, products of the New England Patriots and the Bill Belichick regime. The Raiders picked up Chandler Jones (who has a “masters in pass rushing”) from the Arizona Cardinals and most importantly Derek Carr's favorite target from Fresno State, Davante Adams. The Raiders roster was poised to do great things. In fact, many sports analysts were calling the AFC West the most stacked division in the league, with Mahomes and Kelce, Carr and Adams, Herbert and Ekler, and Denver's newly acquired Russell Wilson to complete the package. Raider fans were salivating at what this season could bring. 

A Disastrous 2022

The 2022-2023 season can and should be considered a huge step backwards for the Raiders’ organization. The 2022 season has been an utter disaster for the Raiders as they finish the season at 6-11. They broke records for the most double digit leads being blown (5), and lost nine games by one score or less, several by less than a field goal. Carr has had arguably his worst performance since his rookie year and has seemed visibly frustrated both in games and during press conferences. Carr and the Raiders made headlines after losing another one score game to the Colts, whose head coach (Jeff Saturday) had no pro or even college level coaching experience prior to being handed the clipboard, and he started an aging Matt Ryan at quarterback. (It should be noted that the Colts haven't won another game since.) Following this game, Carr broke down during his press conference citing issues in the locker room. But many seemed to think that there was more behind this than just player issues. 

The Conspiracy

In late November I purchased my wife and I some tickets for the Raiders vs. 49ers game on January 1, 2023. We hadn't yet been to a game at the new Vegas stadium and it isn't often our teams meet in the regular season. She was excited to go despite the rough run of luck by the Raiders. I asked her if she wanted anything else for Christmas, she said a white Carr jersey. No problem. We were both excited, the Niners had clinched playoffs but still had a lot to play for, and the Raiders still had a longshot to make the playoffs. My wife also got us tickets for a stadium tour the day after the game. Little did we know that on December 28th (just a couple days after my wife opened her brand new jersey) Carr would be benched for the remaining two games of the season. 

Needless to say we were both disappointed, the player we had followed for the last 10 years wouldn't be playing on Sunday. But we at least figured we would see him on the sidelines. And then we read further that "Carr and the Raiders agreed" that he would step away from the team so as not to be a distraction. Sadly, Carr's last play as a Raider would be an interception thrown against the Pittsburgh Steelers. My wife and I debated whether we would still go. I was willing to go because I blew a lot of money on those tickets that I wouldn't get back, but her heart just wasn't in it. Finally, we decided that the experience alone would be worth it and committed to going.

But that's where the questions started: why would you bench your (arguably) best quarterback when you still have a statistical chance at making the playoffs? Why would you send Derek Carr away from the team in the last two weeks? Well the answer presented itself in simple but not so respectful terms. The Raiders were moving on from Carr and didn't want to risk him being injured, thus activating some guaranteed money provisions in his contract. But is that a good enough reason? 

The answer is no. The biggest headline plaguing the Raiders, aside from the Carr benching, is how they've blown the most double-digit leads to lose games in NFL history by losing five games after leading by 10 points or more. The rhetoric out of Vegas is that this is obviously Carr's inability to finish games right? Statements from Josh McDaniels have been that the Raiders have won "in spite of" Carr's play which suggests Carr is responsible for the Raiders' poor season. Well that doesn't seem to be what the stats indicate. 

In a tweet from Warren Sharper, he indicates that the Carr's stats in the second half this year put the QB at dead last in the NFL for QBs since 2005. Sharper doesn't attribute this to Carr losing his touch, but rather blames poor play calling by McDaniels in the second half of games. “It’s not Derek Carr, it’s the plays being called and the strategies being utilized by Josh McDaniels.” He goes on to say that if you look at the numbers from the last five years, Carr ranks as a top 5 quarterback.

The word "scapegoat" has been thrown around by several different sports analysts. Regarding Carr’s benching, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher stated that, “This guy has given a lot more of himself than what they’ve given to him… he deserved better than this.” Former 49ers coach Steve Mariucci stated, “he looks like a scapegoat to me.” He went on to say that the contract issues weren’t enough to lead to that benching. Even Emmanuel Acho, former linebacker for the Eagles stated that Carr went from good to bad following McDaniels taking over the team. “If the job of the coach is to make the player better, then don’t cause the player to be worse, and then blame the player for getting worse, and then bench the player!” 

But maybe we're just looking into things too much. Carr had arguably his worst season of football since his rookie year. But that doesn't change the fact that despite Carr's lackluster performance, Josh Jacob ended the season as the number one rusher in the league, and Davante Adams led the league in TDs. In fact, although Davante had less catches, he had nearly as many yards as he did last season with Rodgers but three more TDs total with the Raiders. With that in mind, it's hard to understand how the Raiders expect fans to believe this season fell apart due to Carr's play alone. 

Let's talk about the Davante trade. According to David Carr, that deal was dead until Derek got on the phone with his former college pass catcher and sealed the deal. Davante had said as much himself. This deal was inked in March of 2022. Interestingly, Carr was given a three-year contract extension just a month later in April of 2022. But where things get spicy is that the contract included a one year out for the Raiders if Carr was cut before February 15, 2023. 

The tin foil hats out there would lead you to believe that the raiders simply signed the extension to be able to dump Carr at the end of year without any issues after bringing Davante to Vegas. This seems outrageous until you take a harder look at the season and see all of the blown leads and questionable play calling. 

Against a stout run defense from the LA Rams, Carr had the fewest passing attempts of his career, while Josh Jacobs was shut down. Against Jacksonville, Davante himself notes that what was working in the first half was changed in the second half, and the Raiders once again blew a double digit lead. And against Pittsburgh, in the second coldest game in Steelers history, and the Raiders possessing the number 1 running back in the league, Josh McDaniels relied on the passing game feeling that Josh Jacobs was shut down. But Jacobs disagreed with this assessment, stating, "To win these games, at the end of the stretch, especially when you’re up against a team like this in the cold, you’ve got to run a ball. That’s a factor on everybody involved from top to bottom.” But let's ignore the 350 yards of total offense the Steelers put up against the Raiders. 

So the question is, why so many blown leads? Is it Carr unable to perform and turning over the ball too many times? Although he had the most interceptions following the Pittsburg game, Dak Prescott had more turnover (fumbles and interceptions combined) with less games. Right now Josh Allen is struggling with throwing interceptions as well. But this could be Carr’s issue. But it could also be the abysmal defensive play that Raider fans having seemingly become accustomed to. Maxx Crosby alone isn’t enough to make this defense better, and Chandler Jones didn’t live up to his hype either. The Raiders lost to the Rams with 16 seconds on the clock and no timeouts. Raiders defense gave up the winning play to Baker Mayfield (who had essentially stepped off of a plane and onto the field that day) by playing press coverage. There were no time outs. How do you lose to an aging Matt Ryan and coach Jeff Saturday who stepped out of the studio as a commentator and onto the field without any prior college or pro level coaching experience? (The Raiders are the only team this season to lose to Jeff Saturday's Colts.) Carr had a solid game against the Colts. But let's ignore the defense allowing Matt Ryan to look like old Matt Ryan (21/28, 222 yards and a TD.) 

Was McDaniels sabotaging Carr? It could make sense. If the Raiders wanted to move on from Carr, the worst thing that could happen is Carr performing well enough to get them to the playoffs where it would be harder to justify getting rid of him in the end. People analogize the Carr situation to how McDaniels pushed out Jay Cutler when McDaniels made his head coaching debut with the Broncos.  Again, highly speculative. But McDaniels failed in Denver after finishing 11-17 in a little less than two seasons. 

But then we get word from Raiders insiders that they (Ziegler and McDaniels) were through with Carr within the first couple of weeks. In an interview on the Raiders’ Youtube channel, Ziegler indicates that the plan coming in was always looking beyond the 2022 season. Ziegler himself says that when he interviewed with Davis, he and McDaniels didn't promise to win a Superbowl this year, just to try and build sustainable success. Not a great start. How can fans believe in such talk when largely the same team failed to make playoffs and make history by generating the most double-digit losses? 

But Davis is going along with it. I think this in large part has to do with Vegas hosting the 2024 Superbowl. He doesn't care about a Superbowl in Arizona, he just wants to have his team compete at home for a championship much in the same way the Rams did in 2021. But as of late, Davis has complained about the Death Star being taken over by visiting fans. It was very noticeable during both the Niner game and Chiefs game that red jerseys appeared to take over the stadium. But why is Davis surprised? Both the Niners and the Chiefs are continuing to compete and their games had playoff seeding implications for both the AFC and NFC. But I think it's more than that, the Raiders organization has alienated its fans. 

Recently, there have been at least two reports of the Raiders removing or threatening to remove Raider fans for holding signs criticizing McDaniels. One sign reading, "Fire McDaniels, Keep Carr" resulted in the fan being instructed to put the sign away or be removed from the stadium during the Niner game. During the Chiefs game, Raider staff made good on the threat and removed a fan for holding a sign saying, "Bench McDaniels." How can Davis be mad at home fans not showing up when he's kicking his own fans out? What fan hasn't been critical of their coaches over the years? This year Raiders fans are very frustrated and they have the right. They went from competing for playoffs to benching the face of this organization and essentially giving up on the season. All Davis’ actions show is how insecure he is about his poor decisions to try and turn the Raiders into the Patriots.  

The Niner Game

If the above wasn't enough to make you question the Raiders' benching of Carr, we should look at the play calling for Jarrett Stidham. The Raiders appeared reinvigorated behind the backup who McDaniels took with him from the Patriots. The fourth year man took the reins of the offense and put together an impressive performance through the air against what's being called a Superbowl caliber defense from the Niners. But the plays being called definitely looked different. 

One of the things Carr rarely got to do throughout the season (despite Josh Jacobs' being a huge threat) was run play action. This worked against the Niners and put them off balance. The Niners were ultimately able to hold Jacobs to only 69 yards and a touchdown, but Stidham put up 365 yards and three touchdowns. Clearly the Niners were prepared for the run game, but were ill prepared for what Stidham was capable of, or more so had no film on the plays that Stidham was given. 

The game was amazing, Raider fans started to believe. They were going toe to toe with the top NFC West team, and pushed the game to overtime. When my wife and I arrived at the game, we had no time to explore the stadium as the game was so intense. We couldn't leave our seats. But my Niners pulled it out in the end. Despite the Raider's forcing the game into overtime, which I truly believed my wife willed into existence, Stidham threw his second interception of the game at the wrong time, the Niners drove and kicked the game winning field goal. It was a hell of an experience. Niner fans and Raider fans alike were dumbstruck by the performance. No one thought Stidham would perform the way he did. (Not even the guide for our stadium tour thought Stidham would perform so well.) But for those of us wearing tin foil hats, there was an inkling that McDaniels' boy, who knew McDaniels' system, would likely strike gold. Unfortunately for the Raiders, Shanahan is capable of adjusting without blowing the game. 

But in all the games I've seen Carr play under McDaniels I didn't see boot legs, despite a subpar line. I didn't see play action, despite a hot running back. But we did see McDaniels line up Davante in the backfield as a running back, and attempt to run a play with Josh Jacobs throwing the ball which utterly failed as well. It should be noted that on the Jacobs attempted pass play, Jacobs was visibly nursing a hand injury the play before. 

All of this season leading to Carr's benching when the Raiders still had a statistical shot at playoffs. Stidham was found out by the Chiefs. In week 5, the Raiders lost by only a point, competing for victory at the end of the game. (This may also be the result of McDaniels' stupid decision to go for two.) But in week 18, the Chiefs trounced the Raiders 31-13, holding Jacobs to 45 yards, but somehow Stidham out rushed Jacobs by 5 yards. Well done. Once again, Davis wonders why Vegas feels like a neutral site. 

Farewell to Carr

There is much more I would like to say regarding this horrible season in Vegas. It really was a let down for all the Raider fans who had to go from making the playoffs the year prior, to essentially giving up on the season with two weeks left. But at this point, I’d like to get to the point I’ve been wanting to make since the start of this rant. When my wife and I embarked on our tour of the Death Star, we were given a lesson on what Raiders believe in as an organization. They state that they take care of their retired players, and “once a Raider, always a Raider.” They believe in taking care of their own. All of this sounds great. It was very inspiring to hear how respectful this organization is to their players.

Question, then why would this organization that believes in the above-referenced platitudes, send Derek Carr, the Raiders’ career and season passing leader for touchdowns, yards and completions, away from the team with two weeks remaining so that he would not finish the season with his team? Why wouldn’t the Raiders give him the opportunity to address the fans and bid them all a fond farewell? The Niners sort of botched this with Jimmy Garopolo, but he was still explained the situation and given the opportunity to say goodbye. (Despite coming back later…)

This is the lack of respect I’m referring to. Regardless of how you feel about Carr as the starting quarterback of the Raiders, he was the starting quarterback and face of the Raiders for the last ten years. All he did was give everything he had to the team he was drafted to, just to be sent away in shame at the end of a horrible season under a coach who has yet to prove himself as a leader of men. Carr at least deserves the same respect Jimmy received from the Niners, and Jimmy was only with the Niners for the last six years, not nine like Carr.

It was great seeing Carr play for the silver and black. It was fun to see a local guy go on to play for a California team. It is unfortunate we never got to see him play in Las Vegas, but we did get to see him play multiple times in Oakland. Regardless of the stats good or bad, regardless of where he ends up, at the end of the day Carr was professional and is objectively one of the best quarterbacks that the Raiders have or will ever have had. Based on the callous nature of how his tenure ended with Raiders, being blamed by coaches who literally never take responsibility for their inability to coach, I hope the team Carr ends up on gets to the playoffs and then gets to the Superbowl next year, just so Carr can spit in the eye Davis and say, “I made it.” 

Carr, we wish you the best of luck on the rest of your career. Keep being the man you are, and never lose your passion. We’re still rooting for you.