According to Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, Carr’s salary for the next two years becomes fully guaranteed by February 15.
Last offseason we witnessed unprecedented player movement – at least as far as stars go. Russell Wilson was just one of the huge names who changed teams in a chaotic offseason that changed the landscape of the NFL. At least one Pro Bowl quarterback will be doing so this year.
The Raiders benched starter Derek Carr for their last two games of the season with the intention of keeping him healthy for a trade. Expect a move to be made soon, here. According to Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, Carr’s salary for the next two years becomes fully guaranteed by February 15.
Time is of the essence, which is why the #Raiders are starting now. There is a firm deadline of Feb 15. At that point, Carr's $40.4M in salary over the next two seasons becomes fully guaranteed. Any decision on a possible trade would come before then. https://t.co/z0YW5GMiac
Carr is a three-time Pro Bowler with a career 63-79 record.
As for teams who might be interested, we don’t have any word yet. However, it’s hard to figure out which ones need an upgrade at quarterback. That list should include the Commanders, Panthers, Saints and Jets.
The team that makes the most sense from where we’re sitting is the Colts. Since Andrew Luck’s surprise retirement Indy has trotted out several veteran QBs, none of whom have done well enough to stick around. Their latest attempt was with former league MVP Matt Ryan, who seems to have lost whatever was left of his former arm strength. Ryan played poorly enough to be benched this season and he’ll be a free agent in two months, so we can assume he will be out of the picture in 2023.
Anything can happen over the next 30 or so days, but our money is on Indianapolis.
The Cardinals have yet to extend their face of the franchise in Kyler Murray. What has taken so long?
Up until this point, the Arizona Cardinals have dragged their feet in giving two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Kyler Murray a contract extension as he enters his fourth NFL season.
His agent, Erik Burkhardt, said in a statement earlier this offseason that he gave the team a contract offer. There was plenty of interest from Murray in being the franchise quarterback for the Cardinals for the foreseeable future.
While there is certainly an argument to be made that the manner in which Burkhardt handled the situation, going public on social media, was less than ideal, his points were still valid. To this point, Burkhardt and the Arizona Cardinals’ fanbase have watched as other teams went out and made aggressive moves that signaled a desire to win. While the offseason is far from over, and the team has a chance to turn around some of that frustration with a home run draft in a few weeks, virtually nothing has been done to this point.
It has been floated around that team owner Michael Bidwill and the Cardinals front office agreed to open contract negotiations with Murray’s camp this summer, when the team isn’t pressed for time with the draft. It is incredibly important that the team hold true to their word.
The longer this plays out, the higher the price tag could potentially rise. Wednesday morning, the Las Vegas Raiders agreed to terms on a three-year extension with quarterback Derek Carr with an average annual value of $40.5 million per year.
Cardinals probably should have gotten that Kyler deal done.
This is a rather misleading contract, as that value rounds out to around $35 million per season if the entirety of the deal is played out. The guarantees are also quite low, as Carr himself opted to take a team-friendly deal after his contract was a large contributor as to why the team had to trade star pass rusher Khalil Mack a few seasons back.
Still, the point stands that as other teams extend their respective quarterbacks, Murray’s camp can use them as leverage to earn a higher salary from the Cardinals.
This offseason has seen the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford and Deshaun Watson all receive lucrative deals that have increased the annual price tag of having an elite quarterback, as the Cardinals do. The Watson deal, in particular, likely drove up the price of Murray’s eventual extension with the Cards.
The likes of the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson and the Broncos’ newly acquired Russell Wilson are both candidates for extensions in the near future. Bidwill and the front office would be wise to extend Murray prior to that point, should they hope to not have his price tag rise any further.
Maintaining a good relationship with star players has been a struggle at times for this Cardinal organization, particularly when it comes to contract negotiations. Extending him now helps in creating a sour relationship between the two parties.
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay spoke at the NFL owners meeting, stating the team flirted with the idea of acquiring a young quarterback, a trade that would have included multiple first-round picks. Given Deshaun Watson was the only other young star that would have warranted multiple first-round selections, and the Texans blocked the division rival Colts from interviewing him, it’s safe to assume Irsay was referring to Murray.
If a perennial playoff organization is calling you about your 24-year-old quarterback, shouldn’t that give you an even greater push to realize what you have and make sure he stays put for a long time?
Following the NFL draft at the close of the month, the organization should turn all efforts to extending Kyler Murray.
Josh McDaniels said Raiders building around Derek Carr and aiming for ‘sweet spot’ in extension talks
It’s been about ten days since contract extension talks reportedly began between the Raiders and Derek Carr. How long it will take is hard to say, but there is time to get a deal done.
Monday, Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels appeared at the owners’ meetings where he was asked about the status of contract talks with Carr.
“Derek’s fit on the team as a player is obviously what we’re looking for and what we want to try to build around,” said McDaniels. “Our relationship continues to grow personally. We won’t be able to do anything on the field here for a little bit, but that’ll be a process.
I think ultimately, you try to do what’s best for the team and I think both sides got to do what’s best for them. When we get into those conversations with Derek, Derek is going to have to make decisions about what’s best for him. That’s what each man’s right is, and they should do that for their families. And at the same time, we’ve got to try to do what’s right for the team, and there will be a sweet spot in there hopefully for everybody, and we’ll be excited to go forward like that.”
What might that sweet spot be? Spotrac has a projection.
Derek Carr currently projects to a 4 year, $150M extension in our system, $115M of which would be practically guaranteed. This would make him the 7th highest average paid QB with the 7th most guarantees.https://t.co/jafV97SbP5
The numbers projected aren’t necessarily accurate. But if we go by those projections, it puts Carr at an average of $37.5 million per season, likely with all or most of those guarantees in the first three years.
Those projections would line up fairly well with the deal Davante Adams just got which pays out his guarantees in the first three years of his five-year deal, with it highly unlikely he will ever see the final two years.
Immediately upon the acquisition of Adams, it was clear the Raiders were going to give him and Carr a chance to succeed together, which would mean extending Carr. Now we will find out if Carr and Raiders’ new GM Dave Ziegler have a similar enough idea of what is fair market value.
