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Derek Carr wasn't worried about Raiders drafting a QB, believes it's his team
Speculative stories before the draft, even ones that seem hot at the time, pass all the time without a second thought.
So we barely took note that Derek Carr never was traded, and the Oakland Raiders never drafted his successor.
Since the middle of last season, Carr’s job security has been an open topic of conversation. Once that narrative was set, it didn’t even matter and rarely went noticed that Carr was pretty good in the second half of last season, presumably when he got more comfortable in Jon Gruden’s offense.
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But Carr is going to be the Raiders’ quarterback in 2019. He said he never was worried about that.
Derek Carr: ‘This is my team’
According to Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area, Carr has a much different view of his place with the Raiders than most.
Carr said, “The owner, head coach, GM and quarterback are all on the same page,” according to Bair. Carr said he wasn’t worried about the Raiders taking a quarterback early in the draft. And he left no question about his view of his standing in the organization.
“This is my team and I’m not going anywhere,” Carr said, via Bair.
Carr’s confidence ignores that the Raiders did work out Kyler Murray and Dwayne Haskins before the draft. Murray was never available to the Raiders, as he went first overall. Oakland did pass on Haskins with the No. 4 pick. And breathless reports about which draft prospect visits with this or that team are mostly meaningless, so maybe there’s nothing to take from the Raiders working out some top quarterbacks.
Ultimately, all that really matters is Carr is the Raiders’ clear quarterback for 2019.
Raiders move forward with Carr
Over the offseason, Raiders general manager Mike Mayock said Carr was a “franchise quarterback.” Because it had been said so often that Carr would be replaced, everyone scoffed.
But the Raiders had chances to replace Carr this offseason and didn’t. From the Raiders’ sixth game to their 15th last season, Carr had 12 touchdowns and no interceptions with a 99.6 passer rating. Considering he was on an awful team with very few reliable weapons and in the first year in a new offense, that’s not bad.
Carr might fail to impress in 2019, and then the Raiders might explore options. But they were OK going with Carr this year without a younger quarterback as a backup plan for the future.
It is Carr’s team, for 2019 anyway. And he has a chance to extend that opportunity if he plays well.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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