The Las Vegas Raiders benched quarterback Derek Carr last year with two games remaining in the regular season and the playoffs still on the table. The move signaled the end of Carr’s nine-year run with the team. The decision was also in due in part because of the fact that Carr’s contract had injury guarantees that came with it.
Carr was also 6-9 as a starter in 2022, and posted the second-worst completion percentage of his career at 60.8%, the second-worst passer rating of his career at 86.3 and threw 14 interceptions, which tied his career high. But despite landing on his feet with the New Orleans Saints, Carr admitted recently that he’s still upset with how his Raiders career ended.
“I was, for lack of a better term, I was very upset; I was mad,” Carr said, via the Fresno Bee. “You spend nine years in a place, you have all the records and you can play at a high level and for something to get in the way, whether it was whatever reason, money related or whatever, injury related, I would have said I don’t even want the money, just to play two more times in front of our fans. I didn’t get that opportunity. So, it definitely lit a fire inside me to keep going.”
Carr was also asked if he would have let bygones be bygones had the Raiders changed their mind and wanted to keep him moving forward. He answered no, because the whole situation made his wife cry.
“Once they made my wife cry, that was pretty much over,” Carr said. “Once they made her cry, that was out. But the love for my teammates is what probably would have made me do it. But the way it worked out and the timing of things, I was just … it was time for me to move on. But who knows? You never know what will happen.”
In nine seasons, he became the franchise’s all-time passing leader (35,222 yards), all-time passing touchdowns leader (217) and second in wins (63). Despite registering the most upset wins (33), the most game-winning drives (33) and most fourth-quarterback comebacks (28) by any quarterback through nine NFL seasons since 1970, success was still hard to find. Carr dealt with six different head coaches, five different play callers and statistically the worst scoring defense in the league since he took over as the starting quarterback.
This past offseason, Carr signed a four-year, $150 million contract with the New Orleans Saints and will look to find the success he couldn’t find with the Raiders in New Orleans.
