It’s a little harsh on the QB, but the Raiders need to start over. The Las Vegas Raiders are taking a massive step in the history of the franchise as they are benching their star QB, Derek Carr, in favor of Jarrett Stidham, signaling the end of the QB’s time in LV.
Derek Carr really is the epitome of a career that has been screwed over by mismanagement and constant coaching turnover.
The Raiders quarterback has been the lifeblood and proverbial ‘face of the franchise’ ever since he was taken 36th overall by the then Oakland Raiders (which should tell you a little about the mismanagement) in the 2014 NFL draft. There really aren’t many quarterbacks who could have played so well and with as much class as the former Fresno State QB as the Oakland Raiders were a hot, stinking pile of garbage back in 2014.
And I mean really foul-smelling garbage.
Having come under new ownership with the tragic death of the legendary Al Davis, Mark Davis (Al Davis’ son) oversaw the Raiders finishing 4-12 in 2012, 4-12 in 2013, and then 3-13 in 2014 in his first three years as owner, truly cementing the team as the worst franchise in the NFL at that point.
There really wasn’t much Davis, his GMs, or coaches were doing right during those years as he ended up going through three coaches before he hired then Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio to fix his problems.
With the DC now HC in the head coaching role, Davis made two of his greatest ever choices as a Raiders owner when he selected Khalil Mack 4th overall in the 2014 draft and then Derek Carr 36th overall a few picks into the 2nd round, giving him two franchise-caliber superstars to build a winning culture around.
And that’s what happened as the Raiders ended the 2015 season at 7-9, and then had their first winning season since 2002 (when they got blown out by the Tampa Bay Bucs in Super Bowl 37) with a 12-4 record. Unfortunately, Carr was unable to help his Raiders in the playoffs as he blew out his ACL in the weeks leading up to the Wild Card game, which would end up haunting the Raiders as they lost 27-14 to Houston.
Surely that wouldn’t be too devastating of a loss as the Raiders were still a young team, Carr was coming off an MVP-caliber season, Khalil Mack won the Defensive Player of the Year award, Jack Del Rio was the hottest young HC hire in the NFL, and the AFC West was seemingly wide open as the Kansas City Chiefs had an aging Andy Reid and Alex Smith at the helm, right?
Mark Davis couldn’t screw this winning formula up, right?
Well, if you know anything about Mark Davis, it’s that he’s a poor man’s Al Davis. And he’s allergic to success as after a setback 6-10 season in 2017, Davis erroneously fired Del Rio and hired the 10-years-removed-from-the-NFL Jon Gruden to be the team’s next head coach for 10 years at $100M!
See why Davis is such a bad owner?
Almost immediately, Gruden traded a prime Khalil Mack for 1st round picks (that he whiffed on), brought in a spiraling-out-of-control Antonio Brown (who wouldn’t play a single regular season snap for Oakland), hired Mike Mayock as the GM (he was a disaster as the Raiders only drafted busts with him in charge), and then completely overhauled the Raiders offensive scheme for an outdated, 2000’s era playbook.
Simply put, Derek Carr was screwed as a starting QB with Gurden as his ‘offensive guru’.
The Raiders would then proceed to have 4-12 record in 2018, a 7-9 finish in 2019 (their last season in Oakland), an 8-8 record in 2020, and then Gruden was fired after four games in 2021 for his racists, derogatory comments that leaked in the Gruden Email scandal that is still plaguing the Washington franchise and the NFL league office.
Nevertheless, Carr was forced to step up as the sole leader of the Raiders during that tumultuous 2021 campaign under interim HC Rich Bisaccia as Las Vegas dealt with player’s being cut for domestic violence issues, the Gruden scandal, a player who murdered another human in a DUI accident, and the ramifications of building a new fanbase in Las Vegas.
Yet, Derek Carr handled the situation like the consummate professional that he is as the Raiders squeaked into the playoffs and faced off against the soon-to-be AFC Champions Cincinnati Bengals, obviously coming up short in the end with a 26-19 loss.
However, like I said before, Mark Davis is allergic to success and promptly fired Rich Bisaccia, brought in longtime Patriots OC Josh McDaniels as a replacement, and then forced Derek Carr to learn his 3rd offensive scheme in nine years as a starting QB.
Normally, Carr excelled in adapting to new coaches and gameplans, but this year’s struggles with the Raiders currently 6-9 and Carr’s career high 14 INTs proves that he was unable to overcome the years of mismanagement.
And that’s where we now stand with Josh McDaniels turning to former New England quarterback Jarrett Stidham for the Raiders final two games of the season, clearly signaling that the team is tanking for a higher pick in the NFL draft to replace Carr.
I’m glad Carr has taken this as well and as professionally as he’s done with him stepping away from the team to avoid controversy, but I can’t help but feel bad for the guy. Sure, he’s not Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers, but he’s better than 65% of the starting quarterbacks in the league today.
Nonetheless, with his dead cap hit only 5M if the Raiders cut him before June, it’s almost an inevitability that Carr will find himself on another team come the start of the 2023 season. I hope a team like the Jets, Titans, Giants, Panthers, or Ravens (if they don’t resign Lamar Jackson) picks him up as he has more than enough talent and leadership to lead his new team into the playoffs and compete for the Super Bowl.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Wikimedia Creative Commons License/Author: All-Pro Reels) (All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
