Today the long expected contract extension for Derek Carr was officially done. Carr lands a three-year, $121.25 million extension, putting him under contract with the Raiders for the next four years.
On the surface, the deal would appear to average over $40 million per season, which would make him the NFL’s fifth highest paid QB. But being that it’s an extension and Carr has one more year left on his contract, the full deal actually averages a shade over $35 million per season, which lands him at seventh among QB’s.
That’s, of course, providing the initial numbers are what they say they are and not max numbers after incentives. Details not yet revealed.
While his new deal averages about ten million more per season than his previous extension, relative to the other deals in the league, it’s not as big of a deal.
That’s not to pretend Carr took some kind of big discount. It’s still a top seven deal for a QB who has not come close to reaching the heights of the players who ahead of him in salary. Averaging $35 million is on par with what you’d expect for a player with his resume.
When Carr signed his first extension, it made him the NFL’s first ever $25 million man. It was a big deal. At that time there was talk about Carr supposedly structuring it to allow for the team to keep some of their other top players.
That didn’t work out so well.
The first year Carr’s new deal kicked in, it was fellow 2014 drafted star Khalil Mack’s turn to get paid. Just like Carr became the highest paid at his position (or any position), Mack wanted to be the league’s highest paid edge rusher. He deserved it too, but new head coach Jon Gruden had a number in mind, dug in on it and ended up trading Mack instead, setting the Raiders defense back for years.
“I went through a heartbreak already last time I signed my contract, my best friend left and I didn’t want that to ever happen again,” said Carr. “And so, this was an opportunity for me to prove to the team, to the organization, to our fans that the way we’re going to structure this is so that we can keep everybody together and really, really have real continuity, really have something to build on. And so, for me, it was like, how do we do that? Usually in these negotiations, how much money can we get? And then they’re, how much can we save? And this was just different. There was a learning curve about it, like how do we make that happen to where I feel good and to where the team feels great, like, man, we can still build a championship team around you. And so, that was what was important to us. And hopefully this contract proves that.”
According to Carr, his cap number for this season actually goes down. Prior to signing the deal, he was set to earn $19.78 million this season, but with none of it guaranteed.
Here’s how his contract numbers work out now, according to NFL analyst Albert Breer.
More on Derek Carr's 3-year, $121.5 million extension …
• He gets $25M in '22, $33M in '23, $42M in '24 (total = $100M).
• The $33M for '23 and $7.5M of his '24 money (total of $40.5M) becomes fully guaranteed 3 days after next year's Super Bowl.
• He gets $7.5M to sign.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 13, 2022
So, basically, his money this season appears to go up by about $5 million while becoming guaranteed. Then the guarantees for the rest of his contract kick in after this season.
Interesting that Davante Adams’s deal has a similar one-year commitment, with the next two years of guarantees kicking in at the same time.
The Raiders have already added big contracts to the books this offseason with the addition of Adams and Chandler Jones as well as the extension for Maxx Crosby. But there are still some players who could be looking for paydays this offseason who could benefit from Carr’s cap number not immediately jumping up.
“I want to make sure every opportunity is there for all of my guys to get signed,” Carr continued. “I want. . . to make sure that guys like Hunter [Renfrow] have an opportunity, not saying it’s going to get done, but have an opportunity to get what they need. Foster [Moreau], Darren [Waller], all these guys. I don’t know. Whoever’s out there, like whoever needs help, as long as [agent] Tim [Younger] and I felt good. The main thing to me was, like, there were certain things that were important to me and after that, I was like, you know how to structure this. You know how to do this with the team and all that. Just keep my guys together.”
Renfrow and Moreau are both entering the final year of their rookie contracts, which is typically when extensions happen, if at all. Waller has two years left on his deal, but his average per year is currently 17th and has no guaranteed money left on the deal. He is a no doubt top five NFL tight end, so taking care of him must be a priority.
Currently the Raiders have $4.6 million in cap space, but expect to gain some more space as of June 2 when they are expected to receive relief from two players designated as post-June 1 cuts. At which point we could see some new deals handed out.
