The Las Vegas Raiders have one of the better quarterback situations in the NFL with Derek Carr and Marcus Mariota both healthy. Outside of a bad game against the New York Giants, Carr has been playing at a Pro Bowl level this season. Mariota may be the best backup in the league and the Raiders are starting to use him in games more often.
The team also has Nathan Peterman on the practice squad, who has been with them for three seasons now and knows the offense very well. Despite all of that, the Raiders could be interested in adding another quarterback. According to Tuesday’s wire, the team brought in quarterback Kevin Hogan for a tryout.
The former Stanford star came into the NFL in 2016 when he was a fifth-round draft pick by the Kansas City Chiefs. He didn’t last long with the team before ending up with the Cleveland Browns. During his two years in Cleveland, he played in eight games, starting one. Those are the only eight games he’s played in his career and threw four touchdowns to seven interceptions during that time.
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Never Hurts to Have QB Depth
GettyDerek Carr & Marcus Mariota of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Quarterback is one of the lesser needs on the Raiders right now but it doesn’t hurt to poke around and see what’s out there. Mariota has dealt with injuries in each of his two seasons in Las Vegas. Now that the team is putting him on the field in certain packages, his risk of getting hurt again increases.
Hogan isn’t a great athlete and doesn’t have a big arm. The Raiders would only sign him for depth purposes. There’s nothing wrong with seeing what he can do by bringing him in for a tryout. That said, the Raiders are unlikely to bring in another quarterback unless they get struck with injuries.
Will Derek Carr Bounce Back?
The first seven games of the season were magical for Derek Carr. He’s spent much of the season as the second-leading passer in the NFL and led the Raiders to a 5-3 record. Coming off the bye week, Carr had his worst game of the season against the Giants. He threw two interceptions and lost a fumble late in the fourth quarter. One of the interceptions went for a touchdown. It was a nightmare performance by one of the NFL’s better quarterbacks.
We’ve seen Carr start the season off strong before and taper off later in the year. That can’t happen again if the Raiders hope to make the playoffs. Carr owned the Kansas City Chiefs last year and their defense is even worse now. The AFC West rival travels to Las Vegas this Sunday and it will be a golden opportunity for Carr to get back on track. In the two games he played the Chiefs last season, he threw for 622 yards with six touchdowns to just two interceptions. If he can replicate those numbers this season, the Raiders should get back in the win column.
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