Oakland Raiders 2019 midseason MVP, ROY, and more

Offensive MVP: Quarterback Derek Carr

This decision came down to two players, and frankly only two players were even considered for this award. Quarterback Derek Carr and running back Josh Jacobs have both been absolutely pivotal to the Raiders offense this year, but Carr gets the nod because of how important quarterback play is in today’s NFL. For you Jacobs fans out there, don’t worry, his name will come up again shortly.

As he stated he would, Carr is on pace to set career highs across the board. In his second year under Jon Gruden’s tutelage Carr is coming into his own and showing a mastery of a very complex offensive system. Often maligned and slandered for being a dink and dunk quarterback, Carr is quickly shaking that narrative by slinging the rock with a mediocre wide receiver corps.

Through eight games, Carr is averaging 7.9 yards per attempt, not only is it a career high at the midway point, that mark ranks eighth in the NFL. In addition, Carr is sixth overall with a passer rating of 105.1 and has tallied a 71.2% completion percentage. Also, to fully shed the narrative of Carr always checking down, he is fifth in the NFL in passer rating on passes over 15 yards at 115.8, and fourth in completion percentage at the same range with a 49% completion percentage. Not too shabby, eh?

Through eight games Carr has 1,984 yards with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions which is nearly an identical pace to his 2016 campaign in which he won 12 games. Although 12 wins is a stretch this season, it is still easy to see that Carr is making huge strides under Gruden and is plenty capable of leading this team back to the playoffs. At the midway point of the 2019 season, Carr is hands down the Raiders offensive, and overall MVP.