Oakland Raiders Midseason Awards

November 1, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) celebrates after throwing a touchdown pass against the New York Jets during the second quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Most Valuable Player: Derek Carr, QB

What more can be said about Derek Carr? After a solid but tough rookie season that saw him become one of only seven rookie quarterbacks to throw for over 3,000 yards and 20 TD’s, Carr still had more than his share of doubters coming into 2015. Columnists, bloggers and fans talked about his pedestrian completion percentage (58.1%), his underwhelming average yards per attempt (5.5) and his struggles with the blitz and thought the Raiders would need to bring in another veteran passer to push or replace him for 2015.

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Those people were flat out wrong. Derek Carr is the real deal, and he’s shown it through the first half of this year. He is clearly a step ahead of every other quarterback in his draft class, despite being the fourth quarterback taken in the 2014 draft. He’s a mature leader with a quick release, a great arm, and a nearly unparalleled understanding of the game at his young age.

Carr is on pace now to pass up Darryle Lamonica for the most touchdown passes in a season in Raider history  – Lamonica’s record has stood since 1966 at 34 touchdowns. In fact, Carr only needs 11 more touchdown passes – he has had 11 in the last three games alone – to reach 30 on the year, a mark only matched or exceeded twice in Raider history, both times by Lamonica in the 1960’s.

Carr is also on pace for a 4,000-yard passing season, something a Raider quarterback has also only done twice: Carson Palmer did it in 2012, and Rich Gannon in his 2002 MVP year. While Carr will likely not exceed Gannon’s 2002 mark, he has a good chance of passing Palmer for second place, and he’ll have many more years to work on passing Gannon as well.

The Raiders have finally found their quarterback, and for the first time in a long time, it’s a player who was drafted in this organization and will grow with and be developed by this organization. With Carr at the helm, the future of the Silver and Black will be bright.