It’s tough to have a better draft class than what the Raiders pulled off in 2014. At pick No. 5, they selected defensive end Khalil Mack, who has totaled 70.5 sacks in seven seasons in the NFL. He’s been a six-time Pro Bowler who was also named to the Hall of Fame’s All-Decade Team for the 2010s.
On Day 2, the team grabbed their franchise quarterback in Derek Carr and guard Gabe Jackson in the third round. Getting three high-level starters in any draft is rare, but finding a franchise quarterback outside of Round 1 is nearly impossible.
In a recent article by Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus, he named each team’s best value selection since the 2006 draft. Not surprisingly, Carr showed up on the list for the Raiders. Here is what the site had to say about Carr in the 2014 NFL draft:
“We can debate how good Carr is until we are blue in the face, but he’s still vastly outperformed the value that is expected from an early second-round pick. His 84.7 overall grade this past season saw him finish as the eighth-highest-graded quarterback in the NFL.”
Carr is coming off the best season of his career in 2020 and looks to continue his linear improvement under Jon Gruden. He will be playing behind a young offensive line and will be throwing to unproven weapons in the passing game, but Carr has firmly established himself as one of the top-12 quarterbacks in the NFL.
No matter how you feel about Carr and whether or not he is the right quarterback to lead this team to a Super Bowl, you must admit that he was among the best value picks the Raiders have made in their franchise’s history. Hats off to the front office for getting this pick right in 2014.
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