Are Raiders Mayock + Gruden ‘Happy’ With QB Derek Carr!
It’s true, the Las Vegas Raiders were sniffing around Brady as late as this week, according to league sources, but now that Tom has signed with the Buccaneers!
With that said, all that smoke about the Raiders being in the running for Brady has blown away and general manager Mike Mayock and coach Jon Gruden can fall back on their comments about Derek Carr. Read on…
CelebNSports247.com reports that Las Vegas Raiders general manager Mike Mayock and coach Jon Gruden spoke on their happiness with Derek Carr, but it didn’t rule out them sniffing for Brady.
Last week, CBS Sports reported that Gruden didn’t seem to be loving the Brady questions, he answers them every time. In this case, he used the question about Brady to give a vote of confidence to his current starting quarterback, Derek Carr.
Gruden said of Carr:
We love our quarterback. Our quarterback’s a really good player. I want to reiterate that to everybody here in Vegas. We’ve got a good, young quarterback, and the film, the statistics and analytics prove it.
If it makes Gruden feel any better, Derek Carr is also getting tired of the speculation about Brady. Even though Gruden “loves” Carr, the availability of Brady has kind of thrown a wrench into things. The Raiders are one of several teams that are reportedly interested in adding the Patriots quarterback.
That is ALL OVER now that Brady has signed with Tampa Bay.
However, Mayock had this to say about Derek Carr as the Raiders QB.
He was very happy with Carr’s performance in the 2019 season. He thinks he’s made solid progress under head coach Jon Gruden. Mayock also believes it’ll be hard for him to find a replacement on the same level as Carr.
Raiders coach Mike Mayock had this to say to ESPN’s NFL Live in February:
I don’t think people understand how well the guy played. That’s one of my frustrations. The guy completed 70 percent of his passes. I think we were No. 7 in the league in third-down conversions. No. 11 in yards. He was almost at a 3-to-1 interception to touchdown ratio. You look at that and you go, how many of those guys around the league met those expectations? Not many. I think in year two of Jon Gruden’s offense, he took another step forward.
Mayock added:
I think that’s the way of the world today. The quarterback position is the sexiest position in all of pro sports. My values and the way I was brought up, and what I said in my first media session with the Raiders, was we’re going to evaluate every position every year. If we can get better, we will. If we can’t, we won’t. Derek is playing at a high level, so what does common sense tell you? Common sense tells you there aren’t many human beings on this planet that can play at a higher level than him. If we can find one, awesome. Trust me, Derek is our guy.
When it comes to all the rumors about Tom Brady and the Raiders, Mayock is extremely confident in Carr’s ability moving forward and would be comfortable with Carr as the future quarterback for the Vegas Raiders.
That doesn’t dispel the fact that the Raiders were indeed interested in Brady, but they weren’t going to go as high as the guaranteed $25 million per year for two years.
We’ll see just how committed Mayock and the Raiders are to Carr when NFL free agency begins on Mar. 18, says 24/7Sports.
