Should the Las Vegas Raiders Have Let Go of Derek Carr?

Derek Carr was selected with the 36th overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders. He served as the starting quarterback for the team for the entirety of his nine-year career. During his time as the team’s starter, he threw for 35,222 yards, 217 touchdowns, and 99 interceptions. Along with this, he led the Raiders to the playoffs once in the 2021 season.

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Heading into the 2022 season, many believed that Carr was set up to have a career year. In the previous season, he had put together an incredible season with a mediocre receiving core. Over that offseason, Las Vegas would make a blockbuster trade that would land them Davante Adams, arguably the best receiver in the league.

Despite the huge addition to his receiving core, Carr would play himself out of a starting position and would be benched in week 16. Towards the tail end of his time with the team, things would begin to get ugly between the two sides, and it was clear that Carr would not be rejoining the team. The Raiders’ front office would go as far as cutting their franchise quarterback.

In a recent interview, he would go into his struggles with the franchise last season, and it is obvious that there are still some hard feelings. The veteran quarterback was quoted as saying, “I was, for lack of a better term, I was very upset; I was mad/ You spend nine years in a place, you have all the records and you can play at a high level and for something to get in the way, whether it was whatever reason, money related or whatever, injury-related, I would have said I don’t even want the money, just to play two more times in front of our fans. I didn’t get that opportunity. So, it definitely lit a fire inside me to keep going. Once they made my wife cry, that was pretty much over. Once they made her cry, that was out. But the love for my teammates is what probably would have made me do it. But the way it worked out and the timing of things, I was just… it was time for me to move on. But who knows? You never know what will happen”.

During the offseason, Carr did not last long in free agency and quickly found a new home with the New Orleans Saints. It could be argued that he now finds himself in a much better situation with the Saints. They are a much more well-rounded team, and despite not having a top receiver like Adams, New Orleans has a better overall receiving room.

On the flip side, the Raiders find themselves in a very odd spot with their quarterback vacancy. While they signed Jimmy Garoppolo, he is coming off of a concerning foot injury that could lead to Las Vegas cutting him before the season kicks off.

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