Early on during the Jon Gruden era, it was a common belief that the Raiders could and potentially would move on from Derek Carr if a better option became available. But after back-to-back strong seasons under Gruden, Carr has firmly entrenched himself as the starter in Las Vegas.
During the 2020 season, Carr had arguably the best year of his career. Not only did he score 30 touchdowns and throw only nine interceptions, but he also had the most passing yards of his career as well as his best-ever passer rating (101.4). He tied his career-high average in yards per attempt (7.9) and finished the year with 8.2 adjusted yards per attempt, which factors in passing touchdowns, interceptions and sack yards.
Because of his strong year, it sounds like other teams have expressed interest in potentially trading for Carr. But in a recent media session, general manager Mike Mayock made it sound like the Raiders aren’t interested in trading away Carr as he believes he is an elite quarterback:
“I think he’s one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL and we couldn’t be happier with him, and I tell you every year, we evaluate every position, every year. I have no idea who might call me or who might not call me, so you have to do the evaluations both on your own players and every other player in the league and you got to stack your boards and understand what league value is all around the league, and we do that. But if you’re asking me about Derek, I mean I think Jon and I would both stand shoulder to shoulder and pound the table for Derek Carr.”
While it may feel bold for Mayock to call Carr a top quarterback in the NFL, the numbers do support him here. In fact, since the start of the 2019 season, only eight quarterbacks have had a higher passer rating than Carr (101.1). The leader is Drew Brees (111.2), who is expected to retire at some point this offseason.
Is Carr a top-10 quarterback in the NFL? Probably. And with some more help around him, he is certainly capable enough to lead this team to the playoffs. Don’t expect the Raiders to move him this offseason and instead, look for Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden to continue to improve the talent around him.
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