Derek Carr: Mobility can maximize him in Jon Gruden offense

While he doesn’t have to be a dual-threat quarterback, increased mobility in and round the pocket could help Derek Carr’s growth in Jon Gruden’s offense.

2018 will be a most-telling year in Derek Carr‘s NFL career. For the first time since college, Carr will have an offensive-minded head coach. Jon Gruden will bring his patented West Coast offense back to the Oakland Raiders.

While the Raiders could experience some growing pains in that pair’s first year together, there is great reason to believe this head coach/quarterback marriage could work out wonderfully. However, both men will have to make a few compromises to get the most out of their working relationship.

Gruden will have to adapt to the offensive culture in the NFL that has changed twice over since he last coached a game for the 2008 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The pistol and read option came and went already. Now we are seeing the college game impact NFL offenses in terms of more up-tempo spread and other creative play-calling concepts. Long gone are the days of getting into the huddle and using up the bulk of the play clock.

While Gruden has to pivot in his second stint with the Raiders, Carr too will have to make an adjustment to his game. Though he is going to his third straight Pro Bowl, he needs to not only refine his passing mechanics, but potentially bring back mobility to his play at quarterback.

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Carr’s NFL prototype is probably most similar to the Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers. This is the same guy that Gruden foolishly skipped over in the 2005 NFL Draft, taking Auburn Tigers running back Cadillac Williams over the best pure quarterbacking talent the NFL has maybe ever seen. How did that turn out in Tampa with Cadillac, Chucky?

To be fair, Carr may never be as precise of a passer as Rodgers. Unlike Rodgers and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Carr throws picks like every other NFL quarterback ever. Carr is not as natural of a thrower of the football. His ball will sail on him occasionally, as his footwork beneath him is not always on point. This leads to him not throwing the most catchable of footballs.

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However, Carr does have Rodgers’ best trait of improvisation. Carr might be at his best when a play breaks down and he has to think on the fly. What hurt him the most in 2017 was that Carr was reluctant to get out of the pocket due to previous injuries. If you’re coming off a broken ankle and suffered broken bones in your back in a calendar year, could you really blame him?

While Carr doesn’t have to be a dual-threat signal caller like Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks or Alex Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs, he must embrace being mobile in and around the pocket to get the most out of his time in Gruden’s West Coast offense.

Look back to Gruden’s greatest quarterback in former NFL MVP Rich Gannon with the Raiders. Gannon had always been able to run coming out of Delaware. He refined his passing mechanics in his 30s to be one of the greatest quarterbacks in Raiders history.

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Though his completion percentage could improve under Gruden’s watch, Carr is never going to lead the league in that category. However, he can certainly mount a series of great, fourth-quarter comebacks if he’s willing to embrace his inner Rodgers. If Carr doesn’t want to do the Discount Double check, just embrace the Mamba Mentality. Do what you think Kobe Bryant would do if he played quarterback for the Raiders. That should work.

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