Mike Mayock: Nothing is guaranteed for Derek Carr
Change is coming for the Raiders in all kinds of ways. There’s the move to Las Vegas. You can expect general manager Mike Mayock and head coach Jon Gruden to use this draft to clean up a defense that finished 31st in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted metrics. And there’s no certainty about the future of quarterback Derek Carr in a Raiders uniform. Rumors started late last season about a “significant disconnect” between Gruden and Carr, and Gruden has been known to be brutally exacting with his quarterbacks. Gruden has said nothing to assure Carr of anything, despite a season in which Carr moved over the 100 mark in passer rating for the first time in his career.
On Tuesday, Mayock added to the uncertainty.
“I’m surprised it took two questions to get to Derek, but thank you. The bottom line is this. Everybody needs to understand at what level Derek Carr played last year, okay? The guy completed 70% of his passes, he had almost a 3-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. I think we were No. 11 in the league in total yards, we were seventh in third down conversions. We did a lot of really good things on offense last year. The disconnect was, we didn’t score a lot of points. You’re 11th in yards, and 24th in points, there’s an issue. It’s defense, it’s special teams, it’s not scoring in the red zone, and it’s not scoring in goal-to-goal. To me, those are the issues. Derek Carr played at a high level. I’m very happy with Derek Carr. What I’ve told everybody I’ve been in touch with since the day I took this job, we’re going to evaluate every position, every year. And if we can get better, we will. I know you guys get tired of me saying that, but that’s really what I told [Raiders owner] Mark Davis before I took the job. That’s really my mantra.”
Not a yes, not a no. Mayock did follow up with “We have a quarterback who runs Jon’s offense at a very high level,” but given Gruden’s historical dissatisfaction with the quarterback he has, and interest in just about every other quarterback, nothing here is guaranteed for Carr. The six-year veteran has a contract that runs through the 2022 season, with a $21.5 million cap hit if he’s on the roster, and a cap savings of $13.6 million if he isn’t.
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