Is Derek Carr still the Raiders franchise quarterback?

Derek Carr has faced a lot of ups and downs in his career with the Raiders, and after 84 games with the Silver and Black, the question still remains; is Carr the franchise quarterback for this team?

Derek Carr‘s career has been a strange one with the Oakland Raiders, showing signs of being an elite quarterback on some days, and making costly mistakes on others. The Raiders drafted Derek Carr in 2014 with hopes of him being their franchise quarterback, and after his first three seasons, it appeared he would be just that.

Despite only winning three games in his rookie season, it was clear that Carr had the potential to be something special. The next two seasons, Carr built the team up, leading them to seven wins in his second season, and twelve in his third.

Carr may not have been putting up crazy numbers, but he was doing something that other recent Raiders quarterbacks could not do: win games.

In 2016, Carr showed that he could be an elite quarterback, leading the Raiders to the playoffs after throwing for 28 touchdowns and six interceptions on top of almost 4,000 yards. The Raiders seemed to be in a good spot until Week 16 of the season, where he would break his leg against the Indianapolis Colts.

Ever since that game, the Raiders and Carr have been in a weird spot. The team struggled heavily in 2017 and 2018, as well as Carr not playing to the level he had performed at before. With the Raiders finishing 2017 and 2018 with losing records, the questions of if Carr would be the starting quarterback for the Raiders heading into 2019 started to arise.

So far in 2019, Carr has played well. The team is currently sitting at 3-3, despite playing arguably the most difficult schedule in the league. Carr has shown glimpses of being a great quarterback, specifically against the Broncos, Colts, and Bears.

Carr is in a strange position, taking much of the blame for the Raiders’ struggles no matter what happens in the game. Carr can play extremely well, but the team puts him in positions where he has no space for error.

For example, Carr and the Raiders were playing well against the Packers at first, but after Carr fumbled into the end zone, everything went downhill.

Clearly Carr’s fumble was costly, but it is hard to imagine it was all that game-changing considering the defensive backs could not guard the Packers receivers, even without Davante Adams, and Aaron Rodgers finished the day with six touchdowns.

It is easy to make excuses for Carr at this point. He is without a true number one receiver, as Tyrell Williams has not played for the last couple of weeks, and he is in a fairly new and complex offense still. Finally, the Raiders defense allows him no room for error.

On the other hand, Carr is in his sixth season and can be inconsistent at times. Sometimes the blame can be put on other players, but we cannot act like some things are not Carr’s fault.

Carr misses open receivers, throws the ball away when he does not need to, and rushes the ball to his check down instead of waiting for the play to develop.

The bottom line is, Carr will never be a player that puts up a ton of stats and gets people excited. Carr is a player who can get the job done, but it is hard to tell if he will ever be the guy to get the Raiders to the Super Bowl. There are two things that I can be confident about when watching Carr.

He will lead the team down the field and score on the opening drive, and if there is a chance for a game-winning drive at the end of the game, he will get the job done. Everything in between that is a mystery.

Derek Carr is a good quarterback who most teams would be happy to have. He is the least of my concerns within the organization right now. Unfortunately, I am not sure he will ever be one of the top guys in the league.

The answer to the question of “Is Derek Carr the franchise quarterback for the Raiders” depends on if the team is fine with having a slightly above-average quarterback. Carr is solid, and with the right team around him, he can win games, but does Jon Gruden have that kind of patience?

I believe he does. If I had to guess, I’d say Carr will be with the Raiders for a long time, but they need to continue to build around him, especially as they make their move to Las Vegas.