The Las Vegas Raiders have reportedly come to terms with franchise QB Derek Carr on a 3 year $121.5M contract extension. As part of the deal, Carr also receives a no-trade clause as well.
Carr’s new contract will keep him in Vegas through the 2025 season which coincidentally is also when his former college teammate Davante Adams has a potential out clause in his new deal with the Raiders as well.
The 6’3” signal caller was entering the final year of his current deal with the franchise which will see him make $19.8M in 2022. Largely viewed as one of the “bargain” QB contracts in the NFL, Carr will more than double his AAV, jumping to $40.5M annually beginning in 2023.
Originally taken by the Raiders in the second round, 36th overall, in the 2014 NFL Draft, Carr has spent his entire 8 year career in black and silver. Despite posting a respectable 193TD/85INT/31,700yds statline as a starter, the Raiders have only managed to make the playoffs twice during Carr’s tenure with the club.
The 31 year old set a career high for passing yards in 2021 with 4,804yds as Las Vegas qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2016, before bowing out to the Bengals in the Wildcard Round. Carr is already the franchise leader in both passing yards and passing TDs, and could be in line for a career year now that he’s reunited with fellow Fresno State alum Davante Adams.
As the AFC West continues to load up offensively, the Raiders front office viewed locking up their franchise QB as their number one priority heading into the NFL Draft. The division now boasts Carr, Mahomes, Wilson, and Herbert as the starting QBs for the foreseeable future, in what figures to be a tightly contested playoff race in 2022 and beyond.
Following a turbulent 2021 season, the Raiders hope to create some stability heading into 2022 under new GM Dave Ziegler and recently hired head coach Josh McDaniels. Inking the longest tenured QB in the division for another 3 years is a massive step towards accomplishing that goal.
Photo: Jeffrey Beall. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.