The Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans Saints are both out of the playoff race but their Week 17 matchup should still garner a lot of interest. Quarterback Derek Carr spent the first nine years of his career with the Raiders before being released after the 2022 season.
He signed with the Saints and this will be the first chance he has to get revenge against his former team. However, Carr is dealing with a left-hand injury and may not be able to play. Regardless, the topic of the quarterback facing his former team was brought up to Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce.
He had nothing but good things to say about Carr.
“My memories of Derek are seeing him as a teenager, as a young man with [the Giants] during our Super Bowl run when I played with his brother,” Pierce said during his Dec. 27 press conference. “I’ve known Derek for a long time, known that family for a long time. Lot of respect for Derek as a pro, as a man and as a person. Wish him all the best and if we see him, that’s even better.”
Carr’s older brother David Carr was teammates with Pierce on the New York Giants from 2008 to 2009. Pierce was also the Raiders’ linebackers coach in 2022 when Carr was still the starting quarterback for the team.
Do Raiders Regret Cutting Derek Carr?
It’s easy to understand why the Raiders wanted to move on from Carr following the 2022 season. The team had very little success with the quarterback and while he generally played well, he was not a good fit in Josh McDaniels’ offense.
At a certain point, somebody had to rip the band-aid off for the Raiders and get a fresh start at quarterback. Las Vegas’ biggest mistake is that they didn’t have a good plan in place to replace Carr.
Jimmy Garoppolo was signed to replace the quarterback he lasted six starts before getting benched and then eventually cut. The Raiders then signed Gardner Minshew this offseason who was eventually benched for Aidan O’Connell. It’s hard to argue against the idea that the idea would be better off with Carr at quarterback right now.
What’s Carr’s Future Like?
When Carr was a free agent in 2023, he had options. He seemed to bet on the wrong franchise as the Saints have struggled during his two seasons in New Orleans and fired head coach Dennis Allen.
The future is murky for the Saints and they have major salary cap issues going forward. The problem for them is that moving on from Carr won’t be easy. If they cut him after the season, they will have to eat a $51 million dead cap hit.
For a team in salary cap hell, a dead cap hit like that would cripple their ability to make roster moves. That said, it may be time for them to embrace a total rebuild while they fix their cap situation. Carr is getting older and would likely rather play for a team that is closer to contending. He may even consider a reunion with the Raiders if they aren’t able to draft a quarterback of the future this offseason. Carr should be a player to watch this offseason.
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