2018 Oakland Raiders: Early Team MVP Award predictions
By Brad Weiss
1. Derek Carr
When they drafted Derek Carr back in 2014, he was not expected to step in and start right away. However, that is exactly what happened, and since then, he has established himself as one of the best young signal-callers in the game.
In 2016, Carr appeared to be headed towards a possible NFL Most Valuable Player Award. He had led the Raiders to an 11-3 record heading into Week 16, and they were on the brink of bringing home their first AFC West title in 15 years.
However, Carr suffered a season-ending injury, the Raiders lost their grip on the AFC West title the next week, and ended up being eliminated in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs by the Houston Texans. Coming into last season, the expectations were this Raiders team was a Super Bowl contender, but that certainly did not happen.
For Carr, he will be looking to get this train back on track, and the team went out and got him solid weapons in Jordy Nelson and Martavis Bryant this offseason. In addition, the coaching staff is going to put him in position to take more shots down the field in 2018, which is something he had a lot of success doing back in 2016.
Next: Raiders top 6 acquisitions during 2018 offseason
Carr has the weapons to do something special this season, and he finally has some stability at the coaching spots. He has had to deal with numerous coordinators during his time in Oakland, but this group is going to be here a while, and in Jon Gruden and Greg Olson, he has two quarterback gurus to help him along in 2018.