The Oakland Raiders will have a decision to make on Derek Carr following the 2019 NFL season, but most fans on Twitter have already made theirs.
People do not always agree, and when it comes to the Oakland Raiders Twitter world, one man is the target of most of the conversation. That’s just how the world works. Now a days if someone doesn’t agree with your opinion, they have no problem aggressively explaining to you why you’re wrong.
In turn, if you clicked the “sign up” button on Twitter.com expecting anything less than that, you are in for a wild ride. Unsurprisingly you can find plenty of it anywhere involved with the roller coaster we call sports fandom.
Not all fandom is created equal though. If there’s one thing people on the inside can agree about along with people on the outside looking in, is that Raider Nation is a different kind of animal. Something about the love, passion and dedication to this culture that Raider fans bring just hits a little differently.
When things are going great, nothing on this Earth is stronger than Raider Nation binding together, though you always have a few people who find something to complain about regardless of how the cards fall. I don’t even necessarily think when things are going bad, that Raider Nation as a whole falls apart or loses much of its cohesiveness.
But if you’ve indulged in the wonderful world that is Raiders Twitter, you find yourself as of recently trying to figure out where you fall on the clear line of division within the NFL’s greatest fan base: Do you trust and believe in Derek Carr, or do you believe it’s time to move on from him.
Now if you’ve already muted the words Carr, Stans, haters or any combination of the three, I don’t blame you one bit. Me personally though, I am here for all of it. If anything, it’s entertaining to see how different people vent their frustrations, or express their happiness on a week to week basis.
When you’re trying to be as unbiased and level headed as possible, you have to not only take into account what’s currently unfolding on the field, but also what is publicly known about where the team stands on it all. I definitely am not someone who is completely unbiased.
I’m a fan first and foremost, so I tend to lean on the benefit of the doubt side of things. If I had to pick a side right here and now, I definitely still believe and trust in Carr, though it is a hard hill to stand on at the moment.
I get where the Carr haters are coming from. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it none the less. There is something to be said with how low the lows can tend to be, and the undeniable struggles he has playing at Arrowhead Stadium.
Plain and simple when you have to play a team twice a year, they are your biggest rival within the division and one of those games is going to be on their turf, you can’t have a situation where people are automatically going to pencil in an L for every away game in Kansas City. I personally don’t think we’ve reached that level yet, but the public’s eye and statistics tell a different story.
On the flip side of things, the Carr “apologist” as some might call them will point to the fact that once again, he has a less than stellar wide receiver corps around him. Going into the season that position group looked a lot different, yet here we find ourselves with a mix of under achievers and young rookies trying to find their identity within Jon Gruden’s offense.
When your tight end is your best receiving threat, and one of your more reliable guys is a rookie sidelined with broken ribs and a punctured lung, it’s hard to look at the group as a whole and not say Carr once again found himself without any true stars in that wide receiver room. Another thing some will point to is that statistically speaking, Carr has been among the best when it comes to the underappreciated, grittier stats. Specifically how efficient he is on 3rd down and within the red zone.
The unfortunate part about that is, those aren’t the stats that put you in the running for a “MVP year”. In a world that puts importance on counting macros like yards, TD/INT ratio, and QBR, Carr is excelling in a lot of the micros that you could argue are more important to be among the best in, when it comes to quarterback value.
One big factor for me is that I believe Mike Mayock and Gruden still trust in him as well. I do understand there are some underlying factors that might have made their decision to do so a little easier; He is being paid franchise QB money and they didn’t draft anyone to come in and compete with him. But Carr still has all the high end traits you want in a quarterback.
All the same traits we saw put him in the running for MVP back in 2016 before he broke his leg. Time and time again this year we’ve watched him thread the needle or drop a touch pass right over a defenders head. More importantly, how smart he is at understanding and executing such a difficult Jon Gruden offense. Looking at the strides he made from year one to year two just from a comprehensive stand point alone has been impressive.
With the ability he has to make every throw and how far he’s come with learning this system, I think they will stick with him at least through the end of his current contract as they begin their move to Las Vegas.
Now that is not to say that Mayock wouldn’t entertain the idea of bringing in someone via the 2020 NFL Draft. I wouldn’t be surprised, if we were to see someone like Jordan Love or Jalen Hurts fall to the 3rd round, that Mayock might pull the trigger on a raw, mold-able young talent with one of the three Day 2 picks we currently own.
Not to replace Carr, but to bring some competition into that quarterback room and have a legitimate No. 2 guy, instead of having to rely on the Mike Glennon and DeShone Kizers of the world.
Regardless of how things pan out though, there’s no doubt in my mind they are sticking with Carr for the long haul. He’ll be QB1 the rest of this season and multiple seasons after as they transition to Las Vegas.
So if you’re on the side screaming from the soap box that it’s time to get him out of here, I wouldn’t hold my breath. One thing is for certain though. No matter which side of the line you fall on, there’s always a place for you in the Raider Nation Twittersphere.
Just be ready to take on any smoke that comes your way.