Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr and other players from the team made headlines this week when they were photographed not wearing masks at Darren Waller’s charity event, which broke Nevada rules for the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and might have violated NFL regulations.
The Darren Waller Foundation held the fundraising event Monday night at the DragonRidge Country Club in Henderson to raise money with the cause being to help young people overcome drug and alcohol addiction, which is something very close to Waller’s heart as someone who has dealt with addiction.
In addition to Carr and Waller, other Raiders players in attendance that were seen on video not wearing masks include Hunter Renfrow, Jason Witten, Nathan Peterman, Foster Moreau, Derek Carrier, Nevin Lawson and Zay Jones.
Carr got the chance to speak about the night for the first time after Wednesday’s practice and expressed remorse for their mistake taking away from the great work Waller is doing, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN:
#Raiders QB Derek Carr opens with statement: "I hate that a few moments withouts our masks on led to a story….we slipped up and took our masks off so people could see our faces…we weren't trying to be careless."
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) September 30, 2020
Raiders head coach Jon Gruden also commented on the matter:
“I’ll just say this: We’ve done a good job. We’ve done an excellent job. Last night, it was addressed with our players. They walked in with their masks on; there was an event. Sometimes you go to a restaurant, take your mask off. They’re aware of their mistake. But we’ve done an excellent job – using our masks, taking proper care of each other and everybody. I’m really proud of our players. And by the way, that was a great cause no one’s talked about; he raised over 300,000 dollars for a great cause. I appreciate our players being there in support of him. But you’re right; they may have let their dauber down a little bit by taking their masks off during the event. But it’s been addressed and that’s the best I can tell you.”
It remains to be seen if the league will discipline any Raiders players. While it was a mistake that simply can’t happen with everything going on right now, it seems that they avoided disaster at the very least though as all of the Raiders players practiced on Wednesday, meaning they have all tested negative for coronavirus.
Hopefully they can all learn from this incident and it won’t happen again. Gruden has emphasized the need to follow protocols to defeat coronavirus all season, and with some Tennessee Titans players testing position this week, the emphasis around the league will be even greater moving forward.
As far as the charity event goes, it is awesome to see Waller and the Raiders continuing to make an impact in the community by raising $300,000.
