David Carr praises younger brother ahead of rookie debut Sunday

Sep 20, 2013; Fresno, CA, USA; NFL former quarterback David Carr (left) walks off the field next to his brother, Fresno State Bulldogs quarterback Derek Carr (4) after the Bulldogs defeated the Boise State Broncos 41-40 at Bulldog Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

David Carr may have been viewed as a negative knock on 2014 second round pick Derek Carr by some as the older brother of the promising Fresno State quarterback talent who just happened to be a former #1 overall pick that didn’t quite work out for the expansion Houston Texans. The eldest carr spent his time in Houston doing a lot of losing for a team that was far away from being built to win, eventually becoming a backup and forever being labelled as a “bust” which in turn led to some concerns about his younger brother Derek’s pro prospects leading up to the draft.

However Derek has proven to the Oakland Raiders and the rest of the NFL that having the firsthand experience of seeing his older brother playing in the NFL at quarterback is more of a positive than anything through the early stages of his career, looking like a poised player who knows what it takes to succeed in the league by earning the starting job in Oakland as the only rookie passer who will start Week One in the league this Sunday.

Naturally one of the first things younger brother Derek did was call his older brother to share in the excitement as well as to ask some advice to David, who according to Bill Williamson from ESPN is excited to be there for his younger brother leading up to his debut on Sunday.

From ESPN:

"Shortly after he won the starting quarterback job for the Oakland Raiders, Derek Carr called his older brother. He wasn’t fishing to be congratulated. He was looking for tips.“It was, ‘Hey, I was named the starter; now let’s talk about the Jets,’” said Carr’s older brother, David Carr, an NFL quarterback from 2002-12. “He wasn’t wasting a lot of time.”David said he has continued to talk to his younger brother throughout the week to give him a “template of how to go through the week.”“I just want to be there for him,” David said. “If he has questions, I want to guide him through it.”"

According to David, the Raiders starting quarterback has been asking for tips here and there all summer. Using the experiences of his older brother to his advantage while trying to prove to the team that he can start right away, something that appears to have paid dividends as Carr was as impressive as any passer during the preseason. According to David the questions asked by his younger brother were questions that a veteran would ask, also mentioning that thanks to Derek’s experiences around the NFL at a younger age he is more mature as a rookie as some would think from a first glance.

“He was asking all these questions rookie quarterbacks don’t ask,” David Carr said. “It wasn’t basic stuff. It was complicated, in-depth questions. It was things veteran quarterbacks ask. I realized then he might have a chance to play early.”

“He was in NFL locker rooms. He was around me; he caught on,” David said. “Around junior high is when I first thought he had a chance to be in the NFL. He was taking quarterbacking very seriously. He really knew it’s what he wanted to do.”

It appears that the younger Carr has a better chance to make a family quarterbacking tradition a success story at the NFL level, blessed with the experiences of his older brother’s career along with being around the NFL at a young age it is clear that Derek is also around much better talent than that of the expansion Texans when David was trying to live up to the pressures of being a first overall pick. Those experiences that David went through should help Derek as he has an in-house mentor who has been there before and has experienced the lows along with some of the highs of being a starter in the NFL, if anything the bond between the Carr brothers should be seen as a positive more than anything now that Derek is ready for the spotlight;