The Las Vegas Raiders made a shocking decision to bench Derek Carr for the remainder of the season. He has been the team’s starting quarterback since 2014.
Jarrett Stidham, acquired in an offseason trade from the New England Patriots, will start against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium. He will also start their final regular season game.
Carr and the franchise also agreed that he should step away from the team in these last weeks, which leads you to believe he is on his way out of town during the offseason. That makes you wonder who will be throwing the ball to Raiders wideout Davante Adams, a college teammate of Carr whom Las Vegas acquired in the offseason via trade with the Green Bay Packers.
We now have four names that might make sense for this team in 2023.
Those names include Patriots QB Mac Jones, Bucs QB Tom Brady, 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo, and Rams QB Baker Mayfield.
“Obviously, I don’t think anybody was excited about it in here,” Adams said. “You know, him being one of my really good friends and the reason why I came here in the first place, I mean, I wouldn’t be here right now if he wasn’t here, so I think everybody knows how I feel about him.
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“And with that said, there’s a process of how things go, and I’m not going to sit here and go on and on, but obviously I support my guy and we’ve got to finish the season out the best way we can possible with all things considered.”
Carr signed a three-year, $121.5 million contract extension in the spring, but he could be cut for a $5.625 million salary-cap hit if the move is made within three days of the Super Bowl. You can expect the Raiders to move very fast on this.
Head coach Josh McDaniels said there was no “finality” in the decision to shut down Carr.
Carr has struggled in his first season under the Raiders’ new regime as he has an NFL-high and career-high-tying 14 interceptions, and his passer rating of 86.3 is his lowest since his rookie season.
Las Vegas, who qualified for the postseason last year, are currently 6-9 and still mathematically alive for a playoff spot. A bunch of fourth quarter meltdowns would have them in a much better position right now.
