Derek Carr and Gabe Jackson Extensions To Heat Up Post-Draft

Oakland Raiders General Manager Reggie Mckenzie expects contract negotiations for Derek Carr and Gabe Jackson to heat up after the NFL draft.

Coming off of a pro bowl season, Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr will be heading into his fourth and final year on his rookie deal. Through his first three seasons, Carr has racked up 81 touchdowns, over 11,000 yards, and has had at least 300 completions in each year.

All of these stats have put Carr in elite company, and you can expect his upcoming contract extension to reflect that. What makes this even more interesting is that while the Raiders have been approved to move to Las Vegas, will Carr and his representatives want to backload his contract considering Las Vegas has no state income tax?

As for Gabe Jackson, he is coming off of another good year. Jackson has been a rock-solid guard during his first three years, and you can expect him to be extended as well.

McKenzie talked about extensions for Carr, Mack and...RG Gabe Jackson. Gabe Jackson entering a contract year. Teams loves him.
— Scott Bair (@ScottBairNFL) March 28, 2017

During the NFL owners meeting, Reggie McKenzie was asked about Carr and Jackson’s upcoming contracts, he said:

"“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 get Gabe. 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.”"

For those who thought that the Raiders would consider letting Jackson test the open market, it appears that he will be in the Raiders long-term plans. In today’s NFL, good guard-play is hard to come by, so while you have a player of Jackson’s ability, you need to make sure you hang onto him.

You can fully expect Carr’s contract to be in the $20-$24 million per year range, considering he is the team’s franchise quarterback, and you saw how the team performed during his absence.

Jackson on the other hand, is probably taking note of the big money other right guards have been getting, most notably Kevin Zeitler and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who both got big money this offseason. Due to both guards getting substantial money, I would think that Jackson’s market value just went up from $8 million per year, to around $10 million per year, if not higher.

Something else to take note of is Khalil Mack. Mack is also going to be entering the last year of his rookie deal, and while the Raiders will most likely exercise his fifth-year option, it should be expected that Mack will be taken care of in the near future as well. Mack could easily command a $100 million contract, thanks to the JJ Watt’s and Von Miller’s of the world.

More from Just Blog Baby

Regardless of how this might impact the cap, it appears that Reggie McKenzie has been planning the structure of these contracts for quite some time. He has been on the record as saying that these contracts should not hinder the Raiders ability to stay competitive. While some might be skeptical of that, McKenzie has earned the benefit of the doubt, considering how he has managed to pull of a handful of team friendly contracts.

Home/Las Vegas Raiders News