Derek Carr made a pretty sizable leap in play in his second-year under head coach Jon Gruden. He improved his completion percentage, yards per attempt, and even cut back on his turnovers.
Is there still room for him to grow in this offense? Of course. But part of the reason why he hasn’t made the leap from an above-average quarterback to an elite one is actually no fault of his own.
Carr’s receivers have constantly led him down throughout his entire career. According to ESPN’s Mike Clay, Carr has never had a season in which his receiving corps wasn’t in the top-five in dropped passes.
Derek Carr has never finished an NFL season in which he wasn't Top 5 in dropped passes by his targets (26.8 per season).
4th, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 5th, 3rd
— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) April 7, 2020
Earlier in Carr’s career, he had two dynamic receivers in Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, but both of those players had their fair share of drops. Over the last two years, Carr’s receiving corps just hasn’t been good enough, and he’s been forced to throw to lesser players.
If the Raiders can find one or even two reliable receivers in this loaded draft class, it wouldn’t be a shock if Carr’s numbers continued to skyrocket under Gruden. Finding a No. 1 receiver who can get open and catch the ball would do wonders for this offense and, more specifically, Derek Carr, going forward.
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