Las Vegas Raiders: Biggest what-ifs of Derek Carr’s career
Las Vegas Raiders: Biggest what-ifs of Derek Carr’s career
What if the Raiders don’t trade away Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper?
Perhaps this is more of a team what-if then specific to Derek Carr but the trades of Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper definitely had an impact on his career. Some of the Raiders biggest mistakes in the draft and free agency came from the need to replace these two players and the inability to do so held the team back in several ways.
Gruden’s search for a dominant pass rusher to replace Khalil Mack led him to draft Clelin Farrell far too early rather than grabbing an impact linebacker like Devin White or filling another positional need. The search for a new number one receiver was even more destructive as Gruden wasted draft capital trading for Martavis Bryant and Antonio Brown who did next to nothing in silver and black though for different reasons.
We can imagine a world where Derek Carr does not lose his best friend on the team who happens to be a future Hall of Famer and his number one wide receiver in the same season. A defense built around Khalil Mack would have been light years better than one built on a rookie Maxx Crosby alone and the prospect of both of them lining up together is downright salivating.
If the Raiders had kept Amari Cooper, there’s a good chance they don’t draft Henry Ruggs in the first round and we avoid that mess altogether. Losing these two guys in the same season is just a small bit of the adversity that Derek Carr has had to face as the franchise quarterback of the Raiders.
Carr and Cooper could have become one of the better QB/WR combos in the NFL and this offense may have been even better in 2020 and ’21.
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Maybe Davante Adams does not come to the Raiders in this situation, but he seemed to have his heart set on the move regardless of what else was happening. Either way, the lesson from this what-if should be that teams need to hold on to their best players, especially ones that are homegrown like Mack and Cooper.