During much of the offseason, there were nonstop rumors about the Las Vegas Raiders not having Derek Carr behind center in 2020 and that Tom Brady would soon come. Well, Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Raiders would go on to sign Marcus Mariota to a 2-year deal.
However, while others might see the Mariota signing as the beginning of the end for the veteran Raiders starter, the former second-round pick isn’t worried about his job security.
“No. And I say no without getting into too much detail … I knew some of the things that were going to be said and I knew some of the things that were going to be thrown out by the media. I knew a lot of those things. And then I’d wake up in the morning and those things would happen. And, I would just laugh.”
“I gotta be honest with you, it doesn’t even bother me one bit … And that is being completely true to myself. No one outside of who I am is going to push me harder than me. Like, I always encourage guys to go ahead and wake up when I wake up, study how much I study, work hard like I work hard. I’m not the least bit looking to my left or to my right when I’m doing a rep, I’m focused on me.”
Despite not having a clear No. 1 option at WR, Carr had a solid 2019 campaign as he tossed for 4,054 and 21 touchdowns with only eight interceptions.
The Raiders could only muster a 7-9 record and miss the postseason for the 3rd-straight season.
Mariota is coming off a season where he was benched in favor of Ryan Tannehill, who led the Titans to the AFC Championship game.
