Under two years of Jon Gruden, Derek Carr has been pretty efficient. Since 2018, he is completing nearly 70 percent of his passes with a passer rating of 97.2. In 2019, he even averaged a career-high 7.9 yards per attempt.
However, one of the biggest complaints about Carr’s career in the NFL is his ability to throw the ball down the field.
In a recent article by Pro Football Focus, they broke down all 32 starting quarterbacks in 2019 by their performance when throwing the ball down the field. Carr actually came in at No. 17, but the numbers show he was actually better than that last season:
It’s not that Derek Carr is bad at passing deep, it’s just that it seems to be near impossible to convince him to try it. He had just 48 deep attempts last season, which was one of the lower deep shot rates (9.4%) in the league. His completion rate and other numbers weren’t terrible on those plays; the Raiders just need to find a way to coax him into attempting more of them and must surely be hoping that Henry Ruggs III will be the player to help that.
For most of his career, Carr has been an efficient passer going downfield. However, the problem is always getting Carr to be more aggressive. Can the presence of Henry Ruggs get Carr to be more aggressive? That likely played into the selection of the former Alabama receiver.
If Carr can become more willing to throw the ball down the field in 2020, not only will it help him become even more efficient, but it should help the run game as well. For years, safeties have inched closer to the line of scrimmage against the Raiders, daring Carr to throw the ball deep. If he can back them up this season, Josh Jacobs and company should have even more success on the ground.
For the Raiders to take the next step as an offense, they need Carr to be more aggressive. Can Gruden get that out of his franchise quarterback in 2020? That will be one of the biggest storylines to watch this season for Carr and the Raiders.
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