According to Peter King, there’s “lots of suspicion” that the Raiders could draft a quarterback high this year and not trade Derek Carr.
A personnel executive tells King that the Chiefs strategy of having Patrick Mahomes spend a year behind Alex Smith could be tempting to teams like the Raiders. Although, King adds that he isn’t sure Carr would be that willing to help a young kid take his job.
Raiders HC Jon Gruden coached the North squad at the Senior Bowl last week, which included Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, Ryan Finley, and Trace McSorley, so they’re at least worth keeping an eye on for Oakland.
Rumors circulated last year about Carr’s future with the Raiders and some thought Oakland could make him available for trade this offseason.
However, new GM Mike Mayock said last week that Carr is the “least of [their] problems.”
“When you look at 32 teams in this league, and there aren’t 32 starting quarterbacks, yet we have one of them,” Mayock said, per Michael Gehlken. “He’s a starting quarterback in the NFL. He can make every throw. We’ve got to do a better job of protecting him and giving him weapons. He played with two rookie tackles last year. We need to get more speed on offense. We need to be more dynamic.
“Derek Carr, at this point, is kind of the least of our problems.”
Carr, 27, is a former second-round pick of the Raiders back in 2014. He is was in the final year of his contract when the Raiders signed him to a five-year, $125 million extension that included $70 million guaranteed in 2017.
Carr stands to make base salaries of $19.9 million and $18.9 million over the next two years of the agreement.
In 2018, Carr appeared in all 16 games and thrown for 4,049 yards while completing 68.9 percent of his passes to go along with 19 touchdowns and 10interceptions. He has also rushed for 47 yards and a touchdown.
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