Raiders GM Dave Ziegler on Decision to Bench Derek Carr

Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler knew benching Carr would be difficult.

Long-time franchise quarterback Derek Carr was benched for the remainder of the 2022 regular season after the Las Vegas Raiders suffered a 13-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Christmas Eve.

The Raiders would lose their final two games to finish the year with a 6-11 record. They decided to bench Carr for a number of reasons, one being that he is not in the team’s long-term plans.

General manager Dave Ziegler is in charge of preparing the Raiders for life after Derek Carr. In the short term, he used this opportunity to look at Jarrett Stidham and Chase Garbers to see if either of those quarterbacks could be the long-term answer. Ziegler talked about the decision to bench Carr in an interview on Friday.

“It was a difficult decision, and there is emotion involved in that, but you also have to make tough decisions in this business, so an opportunity for us with two games to go, with where our record was at at the time, and to get an opportunity to get a look at two young quarterbacks in Jarrett [Stidham] and in Chase [Garbers],” he said.

Derek Carr spent the previous nine seasons with the Raiders, winning 63 games in his time and throwing for over 35,000 yards with 217 touchdowns. It appears someone else will be under center for the Raiders for the first time in 10 years when Las Vegas begins the 2023 regular season. Ziegler talked about potentially having some clarity on the position after Stidham’s and Garbers’ performances.

“To have them kind of have to step up in role, and step up in responsibility, and step up in terms of the leadership aspect of the team, it’s really invaluable for us to get a true evaluation of everybody in that room at the most important position in football, to make sure we understood exactly what we have going forward, or questions on what we have, and make some decisions on how to solidify that room going forward, and this was an opportunity for us to do that,” he said.

In his first season as general manager of the Raiders, Ziegler was tasked with deciding how to replace one of the franchise’s best signal callers of all time. Whether he sticks with Stidham or decides to sign or trade for a proven starter, this could end up being one of the most important decisions of his tenure. 

The NFL Scouting Combine is Feb. 28-March 6, 2023, held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. March 7, 2023, before 4 p.m. EST, is the club's deadline to designate Franchise or Transition Players.

March 13-15 is the free agent negotiation period. During that time, starting at 12 p.m. EST on March 13 and ending at 3:59:59 p.m. EST on March 15, clubs are permitted to contact and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who will become Unrestricted Free Agents upon the expiration of their 2022 Player Contracts at 4 p.m EST on March 15.

The 2023 NFL Year and Free Agency period begins at 4 p.m. EST on March 15. The Raiders are expected to be significant players in the free-agent market this season.

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