Las Vegas Raiders: 2022 is (Not) the Year to Move on from Derek Carr

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ARLINGTON, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 25: DeSean Jackson #1 of the Las Vegas Raiders makes a reception under pressure from Jourdan Lewis #26 of the Dallas Cowboys before scoring his side first touchdown during the first quarter of the NFL game between Las Vegas Raiders and Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on November 25, 2021, in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) /

Las Vegas Raiders: 2022 is (Not) the Year to Move on from Derek Carr

Wide Receivers

The onus is not completely on the quarterback to put up numbers and win. Football is a team game, and sometimes the quarterback is only as good as the receivers who catch the passes from him.

No quarterback has had it as strange and bad as Carr has when it comes to wide receivers. Carr had his best season in 2016 when he was surrounded by two top-tier receivers in Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, a season in which the Raiders made the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

The talented duo gave Carr consistent threats to find weekly, which was evident in his MVP candidate season.

Fast forward a year later, the Raiders struggled after their playoff season, and the Raiders made the strange decision to fire head coach Jack Del Rio and bring in head coach Jon Gruden on a massive ten-year contract, even if he had been out of coaching for a decade.

With the move, came the Raiders letting Crabtree walk, and replaced him with veteran receiver Jordy Nelson, whose best days were far behind him. With Cooper dealing with injury throughout the season, the Raiders struggled as Carr was hampered by a weak supporting cast at wide receiver. Which then took on even bigger heights as the Raiders traded Cooper midseason to the Cowboys for a first-round pick.

So here was Carr stuck in the same position as when he first arrived with the Raiders — stuck with hardly any talent around him.

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