Happy payday, Derek Carr! As ESPN's Field Yates reminded the football world on Twitter, the Oakland Raiders quarterback's $19.9 million base salary for next season became fully guaranteed on Wednesday.
Offseason accounting: Raiders QB Derek Carr’s $19.9M base salary for 2019 becomes fully guaranteed today.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 6, 2019
Before last season, it was a foregone conclusion that the Raiders would be happy to pay Carr such a lucrative salary. He made the Pro Bowl three years running from 2015 to 2017, firmly establishing himself as one of the league's best young quarterbacks. But Oakland took a turn for the worse on the whole after the controversial hiring of Jon Gruden, and Carr was hardly immune to the fallout. He threw just 19 touchdowns compared to 10 interceptions last season and led the league with 12 fumbles.
Carr's relative struggles didn't take place in a vacuum, though, instead existing as a byproduct of widespread roster upheaval that followed Gruden's hiring. He was sacked 51 times, for instance, third-most in the league, and lost favorite target Amari Cooper to a midseason trade with the Dallas Cowboys.
Perhaps those extenuating circumstances are the reason why Gruden, despite Carr's subpar performance in 2018, still seems committed to him as the Raiders' quarterback of the present and future.
“Somebody told me he had 3,700 yards and 68 percent completions in 13 games” Gruden said of Carr in mid December, per CBS Sports' Ryan Wilson. “That's astonishing. With three new guards, losing a right tackle, a featured back, three top receivers. The guy is a hell of a player. The guy is a great quarterback. We are very pleased and proud of what he has done. We know we got to get better around him, and that we will.”
Carr, 27, signed a five-year, $125 million deal with the Raiders in two years ago that will keep him with the team through the 2022 season.
Follow Us
Subscribe