The Raiders finally made a decision.
This afternoon ESPN (link below) reported that the Las Vegas Raiders have announced that they will bench starting QB Derek Carr for the remainder of the season. Little-used Jarrett Stidham will start the final two games against the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs respectively. Chase Garbers will be his backup.
The reasoning to do this is simple; if Carr does not get hurt in the final two games, he can be cut for a $5.625 million salary-cap hit as long as they do it within three days of the Super Bowl. If he plays and gets hurt the $32.9 million salary for next year and $7.5 million of his 2024 salary would be fully guaranteed.
This move opens up options for the Raiders to either cut or trade Carr in the off-season. Head Coach Josh McDaniels said that the Raiders said there is no finality to their decision and that they are just keeping their options open. While no one should be taunting or making fun of Derek Carr, they also should be happy that the Raiders are finally thinking of moving on in a different direction.
It is easy to feel that this is the end of Derek Carr’s tenure with the Raiders. In 9 seasons, the Raiders have had only 2 winning seasons. Is this the right thing to do? The answer is yes.
There was great excitement for the Raiders this season but it was partially a mirage. The Raiders won a lot of close games last year including 2 against the Ravens and Browns (due to covid protocol, the Ravens had to use practice players at key positions and the Browns were missing 14 players including their head coach, starting and backup quarterbacks, and several key players).
Just like Tim Tebow, Carr has a passionate following that has supported him no matter what. He seems to be a good person, humble, kind, and a Christian. It’s hard to say anything bad about the play of someone like that. The problem is the Raiders can no longer afford to deny the facts anymore.
The Las Vegas Raiders CBS Facebook page (link below) showed some troubling facts. Derek Carr has historically bad stats for losing. They showed how only one quarterback in the last 50 years has more losses in their first 9 seasons than Carr.
Carr has thrown for many yards between the 20s but the problem with Carr is turnovers, and scoring points, especially in the red zone.
AP NFL reporter Josh Dubow who covered the Raiders has posted several stats about Derek Carr and the Raiders that showed why they were struggling so much over the years. Some are shocking. Out of 37 quarterbacks that have over 200 pass attempts in the red zone since 2014, Carr ranks 30th in passer rating and his highest ranking for red zone TD % since 2018 is only 23rd.
Since 2000 only 2 other quarterbacks have scored fewer points per game than Carr (QBs with 50 starts).
According to the statistic site statmuse.com (link below) at the start of this season, the Raiders were only 23rd in the NFL in scoring since Carr took over as QB in 2014.
https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/most-team-points-per-game-since-2014
Some of Carr’s biggest fans say don’t blame him for the losses, blame the defense. According to ESPN's stats on defense (link below), the Raiders are ranked 24th in scoring defense so far this year. The problem with that argument is that there have been several teams over the years that have had a poor to average defense and they still won. Just this year the Kansas City Chiefs Defense is only ranked 16th in scoring defense and they are 12-3. The Minnesota Vikings and Miami Dolphins are ranked 28th and 27th respectively in scoring defense but the Vikings are 12-3 looking into the postseason and the Dolphins have a good chance for the postseason at 8-7.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/stats/team/_/view/defense/table/passing/sort/totalPoints/dir/asc
It’s hard to criticize someone who you like but the facts don't lie. Winners never make excuses and people that make excuses never win. There comes a time when the quarterback has to take the heat no matter how nice or popular he is. I think fans will always be supportive of him as a person but the numbers show this is best for business. The Raiders could not win with Derek Carr and it’s time for both parties to move on.
Comments / 8