Sporting News shows Raiders quarterback Derek Carr no love
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders have a solid starting quarterback in Derek Carr, but it appears the Sporting News feels he is one of the worst in football.
Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is heading into his seventh season in the NFL, a span of time that has seen him set nearly every franchise passing record. In 2020, he will pass Ken Stabler for first place all time in passing touchdowns, becoming the franchise leader in every statistical category.
Problem is, Carr has not led the Raiders to many wins, and has a career record as a starter of 39-55. While some of the blame can certainly be cast on his revolving door of weapons, as well as coaches, but with only one winning season, the fan base is running out of patience for him.
Recently, one media outlet ranked all 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL, and Carr was nowhere near the top, or the middle of the list.
Derek Carr rated the 25th best starting quarterback in the NFL
Vinnie Iyer of the Sporting News recently ranked all 32 probable starting quarterbacks in the NFL. Starting with the obvious choice at No. 1 in Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes, he laid out where he feels each signal-caller belongs in the grand scheme of NFL quarterbacks.
Incredibly, Iyer ranked Raiders starter Derek Carr as the 25th best quarterback in the league, and that is just absurd. While Carr has not been a consistent winner for the Raiders, he is by far at least in the middle of the pack in terms of starting quarterbacks, and to rank him with the likes of Gardner Minshew, Dwayne Haskins, and Ryan Fitzpatrick is a bit laughable.
To put the ranking in perspective, guys like Joe Burrow, Daniel Jones, and Josh Allen were ranked ahead of Carr, who is coming off a season where he set a career-high in passing yards, completed over 70 percent of his passes, and did all of that despite the need for a WR1. Iyer pointed to Carr possibly being at his peak at age 29, but if you are ranking the quarterbacks in the league based on talent and production, he should not be lower than No. 15 at least.
If Carr can start stacking wins, he will ascend up this list easily, as he has the career statistics, and the team has done a great job building around him the last two years. Entering his third season with head coach Jon Gruden, Carr has seen his statistical production improve in a big way since 2018, and the Raiders should get the best version of him this season.