When Raiders coach Jon Gruden rejoined the franchise in 2018, he said the job was appealing, in part, because of quarterback Derek Carr.
But it appears there’s still a bit of work to do if Carr is to tap into the full potential of Gruden’s offense.
Since his return, Gruden has tried to mold Carr into his ideal QB. Carr, by all accounts, has done what he can to absorb his coach’s lessons.
For instance, Carr adapted to Gruden’s demand to mitigate risk and avoid turnovers, and his completion percentage hit a career-high in 2019. But as Gruden stymied any gunslinger mentality that Carr possessed, there were growing pains.
The Raiders’ 2018 loss in Miami against the Dolphins is one example. With three minutes to play and a 1st-and-goal situation, Carr threw a risky pass to former Raiders wide receiver, Martavis Bryant. The ball was intercepted, and the Raiders lost, 28-20. Gruden voiced his displeasure with the play postgame, of course.
Carr’s decision-making in the pocket slowly improved after that game, however, and it’s hard to imagine him making another such throw on first-and-goal in the future.
But there’s yet another trait that Gruden wants Carr to possess. It also involves decision making, but after the play breaks down.
Offensive coordinator Greg Olson, who is always on the same page as Gruden, said Carr can still improve his ability to gain yards when the unexpected happens.
“[I] want to see him create and I think if you said that about Derek’s career, can he be more creative?” Olson said via conference call on Tuesday. “When a play breaks down, can you get out and create and be the play after the play call? That’s been an emphasis. He sees it, he’s athletic enough that he can create with his legs, so we are just working on him to create more outside the pocket.”
As Olson noted, Carr is certainly athletic enough to be a threat when the play breaks down, which keeps the defense on their toes and slows their aggression. Also as Olson mentioned, Carr is aware of the situation. The QB was asked about his ability to create offense after Olson’s comments on Tuesday.
“Before coach Gruden got here, I barely did it,” said Carr via conference call, after learning of Olson’s critique. “I’m going to sit in the pocket. These reads are going to beat you and my arm is going to beat you. Then he came in and the first year was a struggle just trying to figure out how to move and run around in the pocket. Then last year happens … and we’re getting more first downs with my legs. We’re winning football games with me scrambling. The arrow is trending up. But we want to still do more.”
Fortunately for Carr, it shouldn’t take much more to unleash the full potential of Gruden’s offense. With his skills inside the pocket, merely being a consistent threat to leave the tackle box and make a positive play — even it’s just a few yards — is enough to make an impact.
That skill is simply a must if Gruden’s ball-control offense is to reach its max potential. And if a QB with Carr’s athleticism can evade sacks and avoid a loss, he’ll eventually begin to break plays for decent yardage, or even better, hit his targets on the run with regularity.
Even as Carr attempts to improve in that area, Gruden has made it clear how much he covets such a quarterback. Before facing Andrew Luck and the Colts in 2018, Gruden raved about Luck’s ability to create offense when the play goes awry.
“That’s what I think the great quarterbacks do. They don’t just make the throws and fix plays at the line of scrimmage. When’s there’s no blocking or nobody open, he can still make big plays,” Gruden said.
Additionally, during Week 14 of the same campaign, Gruden said there are natural QB scrambling lanes in his offense when skill players are double-teamed, especially if it’s the tight end or running back.
In 2019, Carr’s progress off-the-cuff was a focus on the first day of training camp, with a scramble by the QB making news. Later in the same camp, Gruden prepared Carr for unblocked pass-rushers by running into Carr’s face himself while shouting instructions at his pupil.
The effort yielded some results during the season that followed, as Carr mentioned. In the Raiders’ loss in Oakland to the Jaguars, Carr scrambled from the pocket when his team needed a first down to put the game away, and it appeared he did enough to win. Unfortunately, due to a questionable call from the official, the Raiders lost that game, their last in Oakland.
But that consistent threat has to develop if he’s to take another step at QB. And it appears Gruden needs to see more progress if his wandering eye for signal-callers is to subside.
The coach’s affection for dual-threat quarterbacks dates back, at least, to former Raiders QB Rich Gannon, who was in Oakland with Gruden from 1999-01. Recently, Gruden had rumored interest in former Oklahoma QB and 2019 Rookie of the Year, Kyler Murray.
And Gruden brought an experienced, dual-threat QB to Las Vegas, Marcus Mariota, to compete with Carr. As a draft analyst, the coach raved about Mariota, as did Raiders general manager, Mike Mayock.
Carr is still the clear choice as starter, but he’d do well to improve in this area, shutting the door on talk of a possible demotion that followed the Mariota signing. Such rumors will continue until Carr leads the Raiders to the playoffs, signs an extension or is let go.
Amazingly, though Carr is in his seventh year as the Raiders’ starting QB and the franchise’s all-time leader in passing yards, he’s still a work in progress regarding a skill his coach covets. It’s his third year in Gruden’s offense, however. Carr’s never had such continuity in his career, which bodes well for his chances.
Still, it doesn’t figure to be easy, even if Carr only has to show consistent, competent ability outside the pocket. It’s not a rudimentary skill. As Gruden said, it’s a trait shared by great quarterbacks.
But Carr will give it all he’s got. It’s his job to realize the potential of the Raiders offense, and if he does so in 2020, he could be Gruden’s long-term solution at quarterback, and they can both finish what they started in 2018.