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After years of trade speculation, Derek Carr can finally feel comfortable as the Las Vegas Raiders‘ starting quarterback. He recently signed a three-year extension with the team that will keep him under contract for four more seasons. While there will always be ways for trade rumors to be created until Carr’s guarantees kick in after next season, he’s likely staying put for a long time barring a disaster this season.
Due to the flexibility Carr left the Raiders with his new contract, many have compared it to what Tom Brady has done in his career. New Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels spent a long time with Brady when they were both with the New England Patriots. After signing his new contract, Carr revealed what Brady told McDaniels after the coach got hired by the Raiders.
“He was talking to Tom [Brady], and Tom was expressing like, ‘tell Derek I’m so happy for him that he gets to work with you’ because Tom knows how much Josh helped him, and Tom expressing how he’s happy for me that I get to work with Josh, how much Josh can help me and he knows that means a lot,” Carr told Raiders.com. “When one of the best players in the world is saying that about his coach … that means a lot, too.”
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McDaniels Has Track Record of Success With QBs
Carr started off his career with defensive-minded head coaches in Dennis Allen and Jack Del Rio. He was eventually given an offensive guru in Jon Gruden and his play did get better. However, it’s fair to question if the game had passed Gruden. He spent a decade away from the sidelines after getting fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Carr now gets another offensive guru in McDaniels but this could be better for him than Gruden was. While the former head coach won a Super Bowl and led some explosive offenses, the only example of him having success with a quarterback was during his first tenure with the Raiders when he had Rich Gannon. Since then, Gruden wasn’t able to find a consistent quarterback situation in Tampa Bay. On the other side of things, McDaniels has had nothing but success with quarterbacks. He’s helped develop Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo, Matt Cassell and Mac Jones. Carr is 31-years-old now so there’s not much to develop but he could thrive under a coach like McDaniels.
Carr Could Have Career Year
At this point in his career, Carr is mostly a known commodity. He’s not one of the five best quarterbacks in the NFL but could be considered among the 10 best. There are those who still aren’t totally sold on him leading the team. Those people should be won over after next season.
Not only does Carr gets a great play-caller at head coach, but he also got the best wide receiver in the NFL in Davante Adams. Having a great wide receiver can really help a quarterback and Adams should be a major boost. Carr should put up career numbers this season as the stars appear to finally start aligning for him.
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