Raiders’ Carr eagerly awaits Las Vegas move
A day after the Raiders played the likely final game of their time in Oakland, quarterback Derek Carr said he is looking forward to the team’s move to Las Vegas.
“Very much,” Carr said. “I’m not going to lie. It’s exciting. I think it’s time for some fresh air.”
If that wasn’t clear enough, Carr also indicated he expects to be part of the Raiders’ move.
Amid a fourminute session with reporters in the Raiders’ locker room in Alameda on Monday, Carr grinned when asked if he’s aware of reports questioning his future with the team.
“We’ll see when that time comes,” Carr said. “They’re probably sick of us talking about it, just like I am. I had some good meetings with my coaches. And I’m looking forward to Las Vegas.”
Head coach Jon Gruden, meanwhile, did not give a direct answer when asked Monday if Carr is a lock at quarterback for 2020.
“He played good,” Gruden said at his endofseason news conference. “I’m not going to get into all the nextyear scenarios. I’m just going to say that 79 is a step forward. We took a step forward. Statistically, I think we took a step forward. We’ve got to get a lot of guys healthy and we’ve got a lot of things to look at and evaluate before we start making any assumptions.”
Gruden was complimentary of Carr when asked where the quarterback made strides in his sixth NFL season.
“I think he played more of a role as a coach on the field with all the change that we had around him,” Gruden said. “We had different receivers almost every week, different tight ends, different backs, different linemen. And I think his patience and ability to coach guys in practice and on the grass on game day was a real area of improvement.”
With a 1615 loss in Denver on Sunday, the Raiders finished this season 79 — their 16th nonwinning season in the last 17 years in Oakland. Carr was part of the one winning season in that stretch — a 124 finish in 2016 that he didn’t complete after breaking his leg in the penultimate regularseason game — and of teams that posted losing records in his other five seasons.
By statistical measures, however, Carr just completed the best season of his career. He set career bests in completion percentage (70.4), passing yards (4,054), yards per attempt (7.9) and passer rating (100.8) and had 21 touchdown passes against eight interceptions.
Carr said it is not a coincidence those numbers came in his second season in Gruden’s offense. Carr has played consecutive seasons in the same system one other time — from 201516 under coordinator Bill Musgrave — and finished tied for third in MVP voting in 2016.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise that my second time being in the same system in year two has been both my best years,” Carr said. “This by far, statistically, (was) career highs in almost everything except wins. So, we need to get more wins. And then I think everyone will chill out.”
As a rookie, Carr started for a Raiders team that went 313 and hired Jack Del Rio as head coach the following offseason. The Raiders finished 79 in Del Rio’s first season before improving to 12 wins in 2016 and reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
On Monday, Carr said the Raiders’ 79 finish this season felt “very similar” to their 2015 result.
“But this one feels better,”
Carr said. “Because everybody’s so young and everyone’s so hungry. We really see what can happen. We felt we should have won 10 games, looking back at it. Like, golly, there’s three (games) just off the top of my head we had. We’re sitting here, we’re having different conversations, were preparing for a playoff game if that’s the case.
“It’s definitely very similar. But I’d say it’s more exciting. Because we know who’s going to be around and stuff like that.”
Last offseason, with the Raiders fresh off a 412 finish in their first season under Gruden, it was widely speculated the team could look for a replacement for Carr in the draft. Carr conceded in May that the rumors “got annoying after a while.” He also stated confidently: “This is my team. And it will be for the next however long I want to play.”
Carr is signed through 2022 on a fiveyear, $125 million deal inked in 2017 — though, as some have pointed out, the Raiders could part with him this offseason without heavy impact against their salary cap.
On Monday, Carr said he already had begun working toward the 2020 season with the Raiders.
“It didn’t take too long,” Carr said. “There were some things that I talked with coaches about — offensive coaches. And we’ve already hit the ground running.”