Oakland Raiders Ultimate Offseason Primer
Contract Extensions
The reason why we went over the cap casualties first is because Reggie McKenzie is going to need all the money he can find to extend Derek Carr, Gabe Jackson, and eventually Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper.
Carr comes first, though. He is eligible for a new deal this offseason, and as a second-round pick, the Raiders don’t have the luxury of a fifth-year option on him, like they will with Mack and Cooper.
There are two questions here:
1) What will the numbers look like? Specifically the guaranteed dollars.
2) When will it get done?
To answer the first question, the safe bet is that Carr is going to get “Andrew Luck money.” Luck signed a five-year, $123 million deal, so expect that to be around what Carr will receive.
Spotrac has a market value tool where they estimate Carr’s potential new deal at six-years, $137 million. Former NFL Agent Joel Corry also thinks Carr will command right around $23M annually. So give or take, that’s the ballpark McKenzie and the team will have to be in to get this done.
Before you ask — no, don’t expect Carr to take a hometown discount. Nor should he. I’m 100% for players getting paid what they can, while they can. And Carr is a perfect example of that, as his recent injury is evidence of how quickly things can change in the NFL. And no, that injury isn’t going to affect negotiations.
Now, to answer the second question…
Will the extension be done before free agency? As close as we are to the start of it with no word or updates, that seems unlikely.
The incentive for the Raiders to get the deal done early is they’ll know exactly how much money they’ll have to spend this offseason. But Carr may just want to focus on rehab of his leg and deal with the extension later. And it’s certainly possible the team may share the same sentiment.
Actually, I lied. There is a third question.
3) What will his signing bonus be?
Specifically, will his signing bonus be paid in full year one, or will it be spread out over future years?
It’ll be interesting to see how McKenzie handles this one. Does he want to spread out Carr’s bonus so he can have more immediate spending money? Or does he just want to get it all out of the way now, so he doesn’t have to worry about it in the future, when others (like Mack) are due for paydays.
And what about Carr? Does he want the full signing bonus right away? Or does he not mind having it paid out over the course of a few years?
We’ll find out soon.
Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Gabe Jackson here, who is also eligible for an extension and does not have a fifth-year option.
Jackson is one of the best young guards in the NFL, and the team would be wise to lock him up this offseason.
If he is paid like a top ten guard, he’ll have an average salary of about $7 million. For argument’s sake, let’s be generous and give him $7.5 million, which puts him in the top eight. It could even be more, but let’s just go with that.
4-years, $30 million. And half of it guaranteed. Put pen to paper and get this one done.