Derek Carr Sounds Off On How Pissed He Was To Get Benched By The Raiders And How Grateful He Is To Join A Stable Organization
Kevin Sabitus. Getty Images.I feel like Dante and I might be the only ones in the NFL bloggers group chat who will still go to bat for Derek Carr. Pretty much everyone in the general orbit of following the NFL has left Carr for dead. You do know who his head coach was last year, right? Josh McDaniels? That control freak, egomaniacal Patriots hardo who's trying to get out of Bill Belichick's shadow? LOL.
Google/read any of Davante Adams' offseason comments to get an idea of how rosy it is to be under McDaniels' tutelage in Vegas. Then of course, how could an ex-Pats regime resist bringing in former New England quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo as Carr's replacement. SO WHAT if he can't pass a fucking physical? IT'S THE SYSTEM, BABY!
I digress. I've spent enough words staging a gallant defense of Derek Carr. Before Reags rebuttals me about anything Carr-related again, I'll simply pass along what the new New Orleans Saints quarterback had to say about the unceremonious end he met in Sin City, per The Fresno Bee:
"I was, for lack of a better term, I was very upset; I was mad. 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 explained that the dealbreaker for saying goodbye to the Raiders for good — even if Las Vegas came back around and wanted him back in 2023 — was when his wife cried about the initial decision to bench him. I feel you, Mrs. Carr. I had a similar reaction when your hubby rode the pine and left the team in favor of Jarrett Stidham of all people.
Like, why Jarrett Stidham? Oh wait that's right. Stidham used to be with the Patriots. To be fair, he played way better than I ever imagined he could have. Too bad he's gone, because with Jimmy G ailing yet again, next man up on McDaniels' QB depth chart is none other than…Brian Hoyer. FORMER PATRIOT. Hoyer The Destroyer. LOL. What a fucking carnival.
Can't blame Carr at all for taking a bit of a shot at the Raiders' shit show of an organization in this Fresno Bee piece, either — although he was still his typical, classy self ultimately:
"I’ve survived about 20 coaches and that’s how it goes and it is what it is…But I’m happy to be somewhere where we’re in a stable organization that’s been proven for years and I hope that the Raiders find something good there too, where they can keep that stability for the next guys because I know how important it is and I care about my old teammates. But for the time being, I’m just excited to be a part of the Saints organization because they’ve won at a high level for a long time."
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Funny enough, the Saints couldn't get out of their own way across many years of Drew Brees' heyday because they had such bad defenses. Once they got it together on that side of the ball, one bad playoff break after another ensued, as New Orleans finished the Brees-Sean Payton era with only one Super Bowl. Sure felt like they could've won at least another, maybe two.
Bad defenses, awful organizational infrastructure, lack of consistently dependable receivers and myriad other factors plagued Carr during his time with the Raiders. Too bad Payton is no longer in NOLA to coach him. Nevertheless, the NFC South is the most wide-open, gettable and overall shittiest division in the NFL. If Carr can have a bounce-back season and play like a top-12-ish QB, the Saints have a good enough roster to take the crown and host a playoff game.
Good for the oft-heartfelt-but-reserved Carr. Speak your mind, man. I hope he writes a book someday. Goodness all the Jon Gruden stories, and all the chaos those Raiders teams went through even before Chuckie made his comeback to coaching. Then the one-and-done with McDaniels. Would inhale that shit cover-to-cover.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok