The Raiders Are Finally Treating Derek Carr Like a Franchise Quarterback

Through coaching changes and controversy, the 31-year-old has been a cornerstone in Vegas, and his new contract, though long overdue, reflects his value.

At some point, it was fair to wonder whether Derek Carr’s ship would ever come in like it did Wednesday when he signed a contract that, sources confirm, is worth $121.5 million over three seasons and includes a no-trade clause.

Here was a perfectly capable quarterback who led his team to a playoff berth in his second season, only to get his leg broken on Christmas Eve of 2016 and miss the playoffs.

Here was a guy who had to stand idly by as a quarterback-alienating television personality came aboard as coach, traded Carr’s best wide receiver and defensive player, constantly sniffed around the market at Carr’s position and may or may not have tried to enter the Tom Brady sweepstakes, leaving Carr with the embarrassing disposition of very possibly being the guy Brady made fun of on HBO (something Carr denies to this day).

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Here’s a guy who had to man the fort when said television personality tumbled his way out of town thanks to a leak of his troubling emails with misogynistic, anti-LGBTQ and racist leanings. Carr had to become the consciousness of a locker room after Henry Ruggs III’s horrifying and fatal car crash, handling the most delicate of press conferences and other public outings with a modicum of maturity. He then led the team to essentially a play-in victory over a more talented Chargers team, with his special teams coordinator as interim head coach. He then challenged the eventual AFC champion Bengals to the final minutes of their wild-card playoff game in January.

And yet, Carr was always treated by the collective football community with the warmth and compassion of a chef at Larry David’s dinner party. On his best days, he was our definition of “good enough.” A resounding ehh.

Money speaks volumes, of course, and Carr’s new deal caps what has been an idyllic few months for the 31-year-old. The Raiders installed a traditionally capable offensive mind as head coach in Josh McDaniels. They traded for Davante Adams, giving Carr an established veteran No. 1 for the first time in his career. And now, he is being paid more per season than Dak Prescott, fourth on the QB salary totem pole behind Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen and Deshaun Watson.

Carr will, for the first time in almost half a decade, feel some stable ground beneath him, protected from a Machiavellian regime change with contractual power. This offseason will not include trade discussions unless he himself spearheads them. While so many other NFL teams are plotting and scheming to huck their quarterbacks overboard at the next sign of an available passing monolith on the free-agent market, Las Vegas is standing pat.

The counterargument to handing Carr a fistful of money ignores how much better he’s become amid the storms. There were moments last year on various plays when he would shed almost all of the negative descriptors—soft, risk-averse, inconsistent—that most commonly sat in the mouths of his detractors. He would take a headshot while sliding to the turf, then come back a few plays later, evade a rusher and fling a deep touchdown pass. He was taking Jon Gruden’s offense, which was ultimately a tapestry of borrowed concepts sewn together, and lending it some efficiency. Under McDaniels, who will theoretically borrow heavily from the Patriots’ individualistic, matchup-based offense, we could see the best of what Carr has to offer.

At least that is the hope when you treat Carr like a franchise quarterback for the first time in his adult life. After years in the weeds, he has arrived at this moment at a particularly fortuitous time. His on-field improvements have synced with a chaotic infusion of quarterbacking talent in the AFC West and a complete dearth of overall talent at the position elsewhere in the league. There was no singular player on the market who could threaten Carr’s standing after Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers were spoken for. There does not seem to be anyone available via the draft to cause McDaniels’s eyes to wander (the Adams trade left them without the draft capital to pull it off, anyway). He went from the Gruden regime, which viewed him with the forever attached caveat of for now, to a player who was absolutely necessary for his team to stay afloat in a brutally competitive division.

So it goes for Carr, who arrives in the short-term oasis of franchise player-dom after eight long seasons. What happens now that he has all of the resources and stability of a top-five player at the position? For years he’s been chronically underrated; he has a chance to show us he’s also been underpaid.