With all of the talk surrounding the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine this past weekend, some feel the Oakland Raiders may move on from Derek Carr.
The Oakland Raiders will head into the 2019 NFL season with plenty to work on in terms of their roster, as they have a ton of pending free agents. In addition, they hold the most draft capital of any team in the NFL, possessing three first round picks, and five selections in the first 106.
With plenty of holes on their roster, the team could go a number of different ways in the first round, including moving back out of their first pick, at No. 4 overall. There are a bunch of NFL teams in need of a quarterback, and while the Raiders only won four games last season, they are not one of them.
During the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine this past weekend, the Raiders were in the news a bunch, as they made a statement early on that Derek Carr was their franchise quarterback. Coming out of the combine, rumors have been swirling that the team may choose to move on from him, and that would be a major mistake for this franchise.
Sure, Dwayne Haskins and Kyler Murray could end up being good NFL quarterbacks, but they started only one season as the college level. Carr, on the other hand, is on the brink of shattering every major passing record in team history, and is still only 27-years old.
Throughout his career in Oakland, Carr has had very little stability at both offensive coordinator, and head coach, something he should have now that Jon Gruden is back on the sidelines. In addition, he passed for over 4,000 yards while completing nearly 70 percent of his passes this past season, all the while playing under some terrible circumstances.
Not only did the Raiders start rookies at the tackle positions, but they had injuries at the guard spots, and had very few weapons for him to utilize in the passing game. Still, Carr stood tall throughout the 16-game schedule, and actually led the team to wins in two of their last four games, including the home finale against Denver.
The bottom line is, Derek Carr is a great quarterback, and the Raiders would be smarter to build around him, not through him. Guys like Murray and Haskins are pretty unproven, and while Murray may be the No. 1 overall pick in April, the Raiders should focus their efforts elsewhere.