CARR AND GRUDEN, A LASTING PARTNERSHIP
They said it would never last. Yet here we are, with Derek Carr and Jon Gruden, for better or worse, rolling in to their fourth season together with the Raiders.
The impulsive, excitable and occasionally harsh and profane coach paired with the clean-speaking, clean-living quarterback who wasn’t going to be able to tolerate in-your-face coaching.
A season of quarterback musical chairs has left Carr unscathed and without even a really good rumor unless you’re buying the Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson scuttlebutt a month or so ago.
Wilson is still in Seattle, making nice with his new teammates. Watson has gone underground with his desire to play somewhere other than Houston, and faces more serious civil matters than where he’ll be playing in 2021.
Matt Stafford was traded by the Lions to the Rams in exchange for Jared Goff at a high price for both teams in terms of dead money under the salary cap. The latest premium crop of quarterbacks saw the 49ers trade up to draft Jimmy Garappolo’s eventual successor.
Carson Wentz, who was onceupon-a-time one of those prized prospects, was dumped by the Philadelphia Eagles and will attempt to resurrect his career in Indianapolis.
You can’t even scare up any speculation regarding Gruden and his latest quarterback “crush,” as was dubiously reported in 2019 about his love at different times for both Kyler Murray and Dwayne Haskins.
When the season begins, Carr, who turned 30 last week, will be the fifth longest tenured quarterback of the team that drafted him. He is entering his eighth season, trailing only Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers (18th season), Aaron Rodgers of
the Packers (17th season), Matt Ryan of the Falcons (14th season) and Wilson of the Seahawks (10th season).
The difference in Carr’s case is at 47-63, he is the only one who has a losing record and hasn’t played in a playoff game. Retaining a starting job with just one season out of seven over .500 is not easy. He’s done a lot of good things in terms of accuracy, production and minimizing interceptions. His critics cite deficiencies in more advanced analytics as well as a propensity for lost fumbles.
Carr has gotten incrementally better in each of the last two seasons under Gruden, but not yet good enough. The bottom line is wins and losses, and both Carr and his coach need to get their act together on the most important of scores.
At this point, it’s hard to know whether Carr or Gruden has more detractors among the fan base. A good portion would like to see both out the door, with just as many convinced that a decent defense would put the Raiders back to double-digit wins.
When Carr lines up for Week 1, he’ll have started more regular-season games at quarterback under Gruden than anyone else. He’s currently tied at 48 with Rich Gannon (19992001).
There have been 12 quarterbacks drafted in the first round over the past three years and Gruden hasn’t made a move for any of them and it will be the same thing in 2021 unless that quarterback also happens to be a right tackle of some repute.
When the Raiders signed Carr to his second contract, he was temporarily the NFL’s highest paid player at five years and $125 million. Now he’s 13th in terms of average salary per season.
Carr is the last man standing from the 2014 draft class that included Khalil Mack, Gabe Jackson and Justin Ellis. He’s only one of three players who ever played for Jack Del Rio in 2017, with running back Jalen Richard and Nicholas Morrow the others.
If the Raiders actually get into the postseason, it’s conceivable Carr, whose original contract runs through 2022, could be in line for an extension and another huge payday.
If not, the forces of an expiring deal and the organizational frustration of mounting losses could finally take its toll on the Carr-Gruden collaboration rather than the supposed disparate personalities of the two parties involved.
Which would cause a legion of experts to proclaim, “Told you it would never work.”
The 17th game money grab — This is how NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell assessed the announcement of a 17th game to the season starting in 2021:
“This is a monumental moment in NFL history. The CBA with the players and the recently completed media agreements provide the foundation for us to enhance the quality of the NFL experience for our fans. And one of the benefits of each team playing 17 regular-season games is the ability for us to continue to grow our game around the world.”
Even by sanctimonious NFL standards, that’s a monumental load of youknow-what.
It was a money grab for a league that already produces cash like an ATM with unlimited funds, so strong it could survive without fans during a pandemic and come out the other side with a $113 billion TV deal.