Derek Carr ranks 42nd out of 100 for 21st century QB’s
Derek Carr is the most polarizing player for the Las Vegas Raiders. The eighth-year signal-caller has his detractors and supporters who are passionate on both sides.
His career accomplishments are up for debate. Scott Kacsmar, formally of football outsiders, took the time to rank the top 100 quarterbacks since 2000. Carr ended up ranking 42 on the list.
Now you can see why it was so hard to slot this part of the list. Much like Wentz, Carr is a bruised ego quarterback with an obvious peak season (2016) that garnered unjustified MVP love and ended prematurely because of injury. Though while Wentz never got back to his level, I could make an argument that Carr had his best season in 2020. It did not result in the win-loss record Raiders fans would have hoped for, but the defense was terrible, and Carr actually came close to sweeping the Chiefs.
Kacsmar pointed out Carr’s ability to be clutch when the game is on the line and how it matched with Hall of Famers.
Carr has the most fourth-quarter comeback wins (21) in a quarterback’s first seven years in NFL history. That list is usually dominated by Hall of Famers, but here is Carr, who also shares the record for the most through a player’s first three, four, five, and six seasons too. He is 24-29 (.453) at game-winning drive opportunities, the 10th-best record among active starters. I’ve always said that if you can keep the game close, Carr is surprisingly good in these moments. I’ve also pointed out that he gets a lot of bogus penalties to help these winning drives, but so be it. He still comes through more than you’d expect and that is a good thing.
It was an interesting write-up on Carr’s career so far. Let’s see if he can continue to jump up this list.
In other Raiders links
Las Vegas Raider’s offense position grades: The Las Vegas Review-Journal goes over every position on the Raiders offense.
Raiders chance at a top 5 pick: ESPN recently projected the draft order and said the Raiders have a 23% chance at a top-five pick.
Marcus Mariota interview: Raiders.com interviewed Marcus Mariota, where he went in-depth about this time in Tennessee.
Nate Hobbs, all PFF rookie: Nate Hobbs was named the PFF all-rookie team for the preseason.