Las Vegas Raiders: John Brown’s arrival a Derek Carr thing

Veteran receiver John Brown revealed during media sessions why he chose to join the Las Vegas Raiders, and it may surprise some fans.

The Las Vegas Raiders needed a veteran receiver to replace the departed Nelson Agholor and they went out and got a great one in John Brown from the Buffalo Bills. Brown has some big shoes to fill when it comes to production and hopefully, he will have a fully healthy trio of young receivers in Henry Ruggs, Bryan Edwards, and Hunter Renfrow to mentor and draw attention from.

Recent reports even suggest that Brown is not projected to start right away but we all know that NFL teams go 4-5 deep on receivers in most of their formations, including the Raiders.

Brown was one of the hotter commodities on the free-agent market at a relatively young 31 years old and he chose to sign a one-year prove-it deal worth just $3.75 million. At that salary, he likely had several suitors for his services as he tries to prove his worth after an injury-plagued 2020 season.

Brown was still relatively productive in nine games with the Bills but he is just a year removed from a 72 catch, 1,060-yard season with Buffalo.

So with a long list of suitors for a good receiver that has a track record of success, what was the deciding factor for John Brown? He revealed during a training camp media session that it was actually Derek Carr that swayed him into making the move to Las Vegas.

Brown said during the sessions:

"“As far as the decision I made, it’s a quarterback decision,. Who would I like to play for? And when I was with Buffalo, watching Derek Carr last year, and seeing the style of offense, I fell in love with it right then and there. I wanted to be a part of it.”Source: Raiders Official Twitter"

Some of the critics of Carr may not like it but the majority of talent evaluators, and more importantly, players around the league are big fans of the veteran quarterback and his talent. Brown got an up-close look at Carr’s talent when he diced up the Bills secondary in 2020 for 311 yards and two touchdowns, though the Raiders did fall short due to turnovers and defensive issues.

The veteran receiver has played with his fair share of excellent quarterbacks in Carson Palmer, Lamar Jackson, Joe Flacco, and late-stage Josh Allen, who has become an MVP candidate in recent years. He even compared Carr favorably to Palmer, who he played with for three years, including a 13-3 season where Palmer threw for 4,600 yards and 35 touchdowns en route to the number two seed in the NFC.

Playing with Derek Carr and getting his numbers back to the levels he has shown in 2019 and 2015 is the quickest way for Brown to rebuild his value and earn one more big contract from a potential suitor. Perhaps if he does what Nelson Agholor did he could end up being a Raider and playing with Derek Carr for much longer than just one season.