Raiders superlatives: Predicting the ’22 season MVP, MIP, ROTY and more

Predicting the superlatives for the Raiders 2022 season

Most Valuable Player: Derek Carr

Was there really any question here? My pick for the Most Valuable Player next season in a silver and black uniform is Derek Carr. There’s more than one reason, and each reason is detailed in-depth. Here are those reasons:

Depth at skill positions

Right off the bat, a good chunk of this can be attributed to bits and pieces in my Davante Adams for Offensive Player of the Year stance. I continuously mentioned the sugar to be shared among the Pro Bowlers in Davante Adams, Hunter Renfrow, and Darren Waller, which naturally only helps Carr on the field.

As great as these three are, the team’s wide receiver and tight end units in full are extremely deep. For your tight end group, Carr has the always reliable Foster Moreau and Red Zone specialist Jacob Hollister, giving weapons at the position outside of Darren Waller.

Similarly, the wide receiver unit has multiple playmakers outside of Adams and Renfrow. Either Keelan Cole or Demarcus Robinson will be the team’s no.2 wideout, and both are quality candidates for the job. This means one will end up being the no.4 receiver, which is a role both deserve to be above.

Even outside of the Raiders’ no.4 receiver being a high-tiered no.4, Mack Hollins is a high-tier no.5 receiver. This gives Carr a laundry list of overqualified weapons to throw to, ensuring success from the quarterback who’s been the only pillar of stability over the last decade of Raiders’ football.

The tight end and wide receiver units aren’t the only ones that will help Carr, either.

I touched on it briefly in my Rookie of the Year assessment, but Zamir White was chosen with Las Vegas’ second pick in the 2022 NFL draft. I bring this up due to an earlier point regarding the depth of the running back room, and how this ultimately benefits the Raiders’ passing offense, especially Derek Carr.

Now with White on the roster, the Silver and Black have four notable threats at running back, who all give something different. Jacobs is the hard-nosed runner, Drake is the change of pace back who makes plays happen in the passing game, Boldin is the third-down guy, and White is practically a little of all the above.

Defenses have to respect the threat each running back brings, and with this many quality backs on the roster, there should be fresh legs on the field on any given down. What this means is, that if defenses commit to the passing game, they’ll get burned by the fresh legs in the running game. This is something defensive coordinators won’t allow to happen, meaning there will be a level of respect for the Raiders’ run offense.

Every skill position on the offense is packed with talent, ultimately helping Carr to succeed. What does Carr do to help Carr succeed, though? After all, this is the Most Valuable Player award, not the “Player who does well due to talent around him” award.