RAIDERS QB WORTH THE MILLIONS
Raiders quarterback showed his worth when he went down with an injury
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr may be a steal at $25 million a year.
Derek Carr became the richest Raider on Thursday — the richest player in the NFL, in fact — and the team had little choice. The exact terms will trickle out in time, but as of now, Carr’s deal is reportedly for five years and $125 million — making him the highestpaid quarterback in the NFL on a per-year basis.
Whether an athlete is truly worth all that money is determined by his or her employer, but a case can be made that Carr is not only worthy of being the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL, but is more valuable to his franchise than any athlete in team sports.
Yes, that includes the $27,273,405 owed to the Warriors’ Kevin Durant next season and whatever owner Joe Lacob comes up with to pay Stephen Curry, who just completed the last year of his bargain deal at just over $12 million.
General manager Reggie McKenzie knew he’d be writing this check on behalf of Mark Davis anyway. But if any leverage was necessary on behalf of Team Carr, it was provided in a painful way last Christmas Eve by Trent Cole of the Indianapolis Colts.
Once Carr’s right fibula snapped when twisted awkwardly on a sack, the Raiders’ best season since 2002 was essentially over.
The Raiders led 33-14 with 11:01 to play. Carr was 21 of 31 for 232 yards and three touchdowns and outplaying Andrew Luck, who coincidentally is now the NFL’s second-highest-paid quarterback.
In Carr’s absence, the Raiders fell off a cliff. After hanging on against the Colts, they lost a chance to win the AFC West by taking it on the chin, 24-6, in Denver behind backup quarterbacks Matt McGloin and Connor Cook.
The Carr-less Raiders would still make their long-awaited return to the postseason, only to fall 27-14 to the same Houston team they’d beaten in Mexico City when Carr completed 21 of 31 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns.
In their last nine quarters of football, with Carr out of the picture, the Raiders were outscored 62-20.
The broken leg underscored a harmonic convergence of factors leading to Carr’s mega-deal.
First, Carr was only a secondround draft pick, meaning his first deal was up after four years and the Raiders had no fifth-year option to lock him up for another season, as is the case with defensive end Khalil Mack.
Second, Carr has made quantum leaps in terms of quality of play each year. He went from a play-it-safe rookie starter who lost his first 10 games on a bad team to an explosive playmaker in Year 2 in Jack Del Rio’s first season.
Seven times Carr led the Raiders from behind in the fourth quarter or overtime to win. Five of those times the winning points came on a Carr pass.
In Week 12, a freak injury on a snap from center Rodney Hudson left Carr with a badly dislocated ring finger. He simply put a glove on his throwing hand, and with the offense restricted to running plays from the shotgun or piston formations, Carr kept going.
The Most Valuable Player award went to Atlanta’s Matt Ryan, but Carr’s candidacy was legitimate and in the most real sense, he is more valuable to his team than any quarterback in the NFL.
Tom Brady led his team from a 28-3 deficit to win the Super Bowl but the Patriots were 3-1 without him while he served his “Deflategate” suspension. Besides, he’s 39 years old and at some point will show signs of decline.
Luck is only 27, a year older than Carr, but he’s already taken a ferocious beating, absorbing 56 sacks in his last 22 games and 156 for his career.
Carr was sacked an NFL-low 16 times last season and has only taken 71 in 47 games. The broken leg has already healed, he’s had no reported concussions and is at the peak of his physical powers.
The Raiders’ investment in Carr’s mental sense is as sound as it is in a physical one.
Carr is the guy who celebrated his first NFL win with a turkey burger at a fast food drive-through, whose idea of a big night out is staying at home with his wife and two sons. The next curse word out of his mouth will be the first recorded in his Raiders history.
But don’t be deceived by the goody two shoes persona. Carr is a cut-throat competitor and a natural leader who played a large part in transforming the culture of a losing locker room.
Carr will be the face of a franchise in need of such a star when they make their scheduled move to Las Vegas in 2020. Imagine trying to win over a new fan base without him.
Add it all up and $25 million per year might be a bargain.