Raiders Plan To Open Extension Talks With Derek Carr & Gabe Jackson Shortly

Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie mentioned in an interview with Sirius XM NFL Radio Wednesday evening that they plan to open long-term extension talks with QB Derek Carr and G Gabe Jackson “shortly” now that the draft is over.

“We’ll be starting those conversations,” McKenzie said, via the Sporting News. “We got this draft over with. Now, we will be pursuing Derek shortly.

“We’re always trying to make sure we keep our good players. We targeted Derek from the outset. We’re going to try and get talking to him and also Gabe.”

This fits with what McKenzie said a few weeks ago and shouldn’t come as a big surprise, considering that both are viewed as core players for the Raiders.

Oakland recently picked up OLB Khalil Mack‘s fifth-year option, which means he’s under contract for another two years.

We’re going to try and get our quarterback signed. We want to get Khalil signed , and at the same time we’re trying to sign Gabe,” McKenzie said. “You have to allot some money for those guys. With that being said, we didn’t have the opportunity to go after guys like we did last year, at those numbers.”

It will be interesting to see how close Carr comes to Andrew Luck‘s record six-year, $139.125 million contract with $87 million guaranteed.

Carr, 26, is a former second-round pick of the Raiders back in 2014. He will be entering the final year of his four-year, $5,371,802 contract and stands to make a base salary of $977,519 for the 2017 season.

It’s worth mentioning that Carr suffered a season-ending fibula fracture and previously underwent surgery.

In 2016, Carr had thrown for 3,933yards while completing 63.7 percent of his passes to go along with 28 touchdowns and six interceptions.

We’ll have more regarding a long-term extension for Carr as the news is available.