Raiders QB Derek Carr has played well over the first four weeks of the 2021 campaign, throwing for nearly 350 yards per game and eight touchdowns against three interceptions while completing over 64% of his passes. Despite the success, Carr will not be discussing a contract extension during the season, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports.
In 2017, Carr inked a five-year, $125MM contract that made him the highest-paid player in the league at the time. Now, however, his $25MM AAV is the 14th-highest mark among quarterbacks, which is one of the reasons why his name continues to crop up in trade rumors. He is signed through the 2022 season.
As Schefter notes, Carr never intended to talk contract during the year, instead preferring to wait until the upcoming offseason. So it’s not as if this represents a change in thinking for Carr, who remains committed to staying with the Raiders for his entire career.
“I’d probably quit football if I had to play for somebody else,” Carr said this summer. “I am a Raider for my entire life. I’m going to root for one team for the rest of my life — it’s the Raiders. So, I just feel that so strong in my heart I don’t need a perfect situation … to make things right. I’d rather go down with the ship, you know what I’m saying, if I have to.”
The Raiders themselves are perfectly content to wait until the offseason as well. Las Vegas is right up against the salary cap at the moment, and while a Carr extension could reduce his 2021 cap number, the club will have more money to spend in 2022 as a result of the cash influx it has realized as a result of the move to Sin City. The salary cap is also expected to increase over the next several years, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to fit a new contract for Carr on the books, even if it will be considerably more valuable than his current one.
Carr’s comeback attempt against the Chargers last week fell a bit short, but the Raiders are still 3-1 and will get a chance to improve on that mark at home against the Bears this afternoon. If Carr can lead his club to a playoff berth in a loaded AFC West, he will have a particularly strong case for a contract in the $40MM/year ballpark.
Carr is a good QB, and it’s really cool to see how committed he is to the Raiders. I’m hoping they can get an extension hammered out.
Carr is nice and all but 40mil ??
I can’t see that happening
$40M? That seems high for an average QB
Probably 30-35 million range if he plays well. He’s no mahomes or Herbert but he is really good
‘The Raiders themselves are perfectly content to wait until the offseason as well. Las Vegas is right up against the salary cap at the moment…’
So Jon is 0-3 for winning record and has the team against the cap? Great job GM, great job.
So the NFL had to adjust the salary cap by $16 million putting every team up against the cap. Luckily the Raiders have been structuring there contracts for one and two year deals. By using this structure the Raiders are scheduled to have $52,135,714 in cap space next year according to Over the Cap.
Your nemesis and his 0-3 winning season record…. No team in the last 50 years that has relocated cities has followed it up with a winning season. Just an FYI
Damn you would think he’d want to get one signed ASAP since he’s playing the best he ever has
If he really wants to be a Raider for life he should take the Tom Brady approach and sign for lower salary to get more around him
Would be nice, he’s already made enough money to take care of that beautiful family of his. Now it’s time to put multiple rings on his fingers. I hope he decides to help the team like you suggest.
Games like today is why the Raiders are in no rush to ink Carr. They need to see something more and he has the rest of the season to prove it.
I don’t know what more they want to see. Carr is, at worst, an above average QB that has the necessary experience to function as a long term starter. At his best, he is MVP candidate leading a division winner. In either case, the upgrade that the team could stand to get by acquiring another starter is not large enough to justify a game of chicken with Carr.
They’ve been using him as a franchise starter, and he’s played well for the most part, and average at his worst. He certainly gives them enough to win and not worry about the quarterback position, under different regimes and coaching schemes. The Raiders have much bigger impediments to their success than Derek Carr, and not many areas where they look more secure. So, yes, he’s given them enough and they need to just make their decision. That decision should be an extension.
Carr needs to go. There are so many better QBs out there walking the street. The Raiders could trade three 1st round picks for the next bright shiny object in 2022 Draft. That would definitely fix the OL and D.
Slow news day for Schefter? Carr isn’t interested in talking extension, Raiders are in no hurry to talk extension. So why did Schefter waste time writing his article?
Looks like another website that won’t allow free speech.. Cut off comments on the Gruden story… lame… Here is the thing, NFL has become a complete drama show. NFL is dead. Gruden said the comments in private… And the fact is Roger Goodell has damaged the NFL beyond repair. He is a millionaire clown trying to appease all these special interests groups rather than focus on the game that has brought so much to fans. People watch sports mostly to get away from the daily dramas of life. Something enjoyable. A past time. Goodell has made it political.. Thrown his agenda in your face. How many flags are thrown in a game now and days?? So many rules it’s almost unwatchable now. Now we have two National Anthems in the NFL, because the one we have had since the birth of our country is not good enough.. Goodell has destroyed this game and now a good coach is fired for saying in “private” what most fans are thinking anyway.. SAD times