Tag: Mike Mayock News

Raiders QB Derek Carr gives GM Mike Mayock a hat tip for bad-weather win in Cleveland

General manager Mike Mayock has brought players to the club that don’t care about playing in bad weather, according to QB Derek Carr.

As a warm-weather team trying to become a contender in the NFL, the Raiders have struggled in cold-weather games for years. Now that the club plays in Allegiant Stadium, their beautiful, enclosed new home field, that problem has the potential to become even more pronounced.

But general manager Mike Mayock doesn’t want to let that happen. Together with coach Jon Gruden, he’s made a point to draft players that love football, regardless of compensation. That philosophy has the potential to pay off in poor-weather games, and according to quarterback Derek Carr, it was part of the magic in beating the Browns in terrible conditions on Sunday.

“It gives us confidence because Mr. Mayock and Gruden have brought in the right kind of people. They can find a way to win,” Carr said to reporters after the game. “I have been in some locker rooms with some guys before where when it gets a little cold or a little windy or rainy, the look in their eyes turns a little bit different. Today in pregame, in the locker room, and as we took the field, I felt like there was nothing stopping us because of everyone’s energy and juice.”

That “juice” was evident in watching safety Johnathan Abram. The second-year pro appeared to be having a ball against the Browns, as defensive coordinator Paul Guenther used him to attack the line of scrimmage often.

“The weather does not really matter,” Abram said postgame. “It does not matter where we go or where we are at. We can show up on the concrete at six in the morning and we are going to be ready to play ball.”

Count running back Josh Jacobs as another young Raider that relishes subpar weather. “To me, it felt good. It reminded me of growing up, playing football in Oklahoma,” he said to reporters after the game. “I came out early and walked around the field and I was like, ‘yea, I am good for it.’ When we came out and it started raining, it just made the game more fun, because I knew we were going to run the ball.”

Previous Raiders clubs may have folded, but not these guys. With Carr playing arguably the best football of his career in his third year with coach Jon Gruden, the roster acquired by Mayock and Gruden are there to back him up, no matter the conditions. That attitude must persist as the Raiders look to climb the ranks in the NFL as a warm-weather, domed stadium team.

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Raiders GM Mike Mayock likes that Derek Carr’s contract has ‘no guaranteed money left’

Mike Mayock praised Derek Carr at the NFL combine, but he’s also happy with Carr’s contract, which makes it easier for him to move on at QB.

Raiders general manager Mike Mayock has been direct about his philosophy since joining the franchise, saying he evaluates every position, quarterback included, every offseason.

That’s led to rampant speculation regarding Derek Carr’s status as the Raiders’ signal-caller, no matter how much praise Mayock heaps upon Carr.

The GM reiterated his stance during his NFL combine press conference, complete with plenty of favorable comments about Carr, the Raiders QB for the last six seasons.

During a separate interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio, Mayock repeated much of what he said about Carr during his press conference: that he completed 70 percent of his passes, had a 3-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio, and the Raiders were No. 11 in total yards and ninth in passing yards in 2019.

But in the midst of his praise, one of his interviewers excitedly pointed out that Carr is also already signed to a deal and he’s young, at nearly 29 years old. That’s when Mayock identified yet another positive aspect regarding Carr—his contract.

“And there’s no guaranteed money left. I mean, everything—he’s 28 years old, right? And he just completed 70 percent of his passes. And I try to tell people, I think that point No. 1 is, listen, we’ve got a quarterback in year two with Jon Gruden that’s playing at a high level. There aren’t many human beings out there that can play at a higher level than he does.”

Carr’s contract, signed in 2017 under a different front-office regime, is indeed largely devoid of guaranteed money in 2020. That factor alone has increased speculation about Carr’s future because it makes moving on from Carr easier for Mayock and coach Jon Gruden.

To Mayock, the flexibility afforded by Carr’s deal is an advantage, which is what former GM Reggie McKenzie surely had in mind when he inked Carr.

All of Mayock’s comments about his QB situation taken together make it clear that he’s looking at all of his options. That he noted Carr would be easy to move on from only further hammers the point home.

But the on-field positives he listed about Carr are valid. With the abundant needs on defense that were outlined by Mayock in his press conference, it’s easy to imagine the Raiders bolstering their roster while keeping their eyes peeled for a player that can ultimately perform even better than Carr.

It remains possible the Raiders could find that player this offseason and have a new signal-caller in 2020.

Or, with an improved roster, perhaps Carr can lead his team to a winning record in 2020 and secure a long-term deal with the current Raiders regime, finally solidifying his position with the Raiders for years to come. Stay tuned. It seems that with Mayock, there are few guarantees.

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