For the past several years, Derek Carr has been the subject of trade rumors. However, his play over the last two seasons has quite them some as Carr has played near a Pro Bowl level. Since the 2019 season, he has a passer rating of 101.1 and is averaging just under eight yards per passing attempt.
However, trade rumors have picked up over the last two weeks as Deshaun Watson has demanded a trade from the Houston Texans. While there have been no official reports of the Raiders being interested in Watson, that hasn’t kept people from speculating about Jon Gruden’s potential interest.
So just how realistic is it that the Raiders could move Carr this offseason? According to Jon Gruden’s brother, Jay, not very. In a recent interview with The Atheltic, Jay Gruden said that he would be “shocked” if the team traded Carr this offseason considering the way that he played.
However, Gruden did offer this qualifier on his brother and why he’s not completely ruling out a potential trade:
“The way that Derek played this year, I don’t know why he’d want to get rid of him. But who knows, if there’s another guy out there that they really, really like, it is a business at the end of the day. You got to think about not only the year coming up but the future five, six, seven years. Jon’s going to be there for the next six, seven years so he’s got to think about that as well.”
Unless the Texans plan on giving Watson away, a trade of Derek Carr doesn’t feel likely. He’s on a very team-friendly deal and has improved each season on Gruden.
The Raiders could upgrade at quarterback, but the price it would take to do so would be so astronomical that it wouldn’t be realistic. Instead, look for the Raiders to continue to ride with Carr and build around him.
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