Derek Carr emphasized today that he has no interest in discussing a contract extension with the Raiders once training camp starts.
“I wouldn’t even answer my phone,” Carr said (via ESPN.com’s Paul Gutierrez). “The money isn’t the thing that drives me. … What drives me is making sure I’m giving everything that I have with my abilities, and making sure that we win. And I don’t want anything distracting my thought process at all.
“Now, that’s not a jab, or anything like that. That’s just me saying I’m not going to deal with anything that’s not helping me just focus on winning.”
The former second-round pick is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and he’s certainly in line for a significant raise on the $1.15MM he’s set to make this year. Last season, the quarterback completed 63.8-percent of his passes for 3,937 yards, 28 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Let’s check out some additional notes from around the NFL…
- Broncos outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett is expected to miss the rest of the offseason after suffering a hip injury, reports Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post (via Twitter). The 24-year-old hasn’t missed a game over the past two seasons, compiling 86 tackles, seven sacks, and five forced fumbles. While the defender will presumably be ready for the regular season, Cameron Wolfe of The Denver Post wonders (on Twitter) if the team might pursue a replacement, citing the team’s lack of linebacker depth.
- The Cowboys learned last week that defensive end David Irving is facing a four-game ban after failing a test for performance enhancing drugs. That was followed by yesterday’s news that cornerback Nolan Carroll was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Predictably, executive vice president Stephen Jones wasn’t particularly happy with these developments. “We just have to continue to try to educate these young men that there’s consequences and there’s accountability that you have to have for the bad decisions you make,” Jones said during an interview on the team’s website (via Jon Machota of the Dallas News). “Then we have to move forward and do the very best we can. We know it’s frustrating and disappointing to our fans and all the people who support us…At the same time, they have to know that we’re dealing with young people who aren’t going to be perfect, and we’ll obviously try to continue to draft the right kind of guys, but the right type of guy can make a bad decision every now and then as well.”
- The Cowboys lost a pair of team leaders this offseason in safety Barry Church and cornerback Brandon Carr. Following the news of Irving’s potential suspension and Carroll’s arrest, David Moore of the Dallas News writes that the team isn’t “off to a good start replacing” those veterans’ positive locker room presence.