While there were questions about whether or not Derek Carr could be the quarterback to lead the Las Vegas Raiders to a Super Bowl, one thing that could not be questioned was that he was completely committed to leading the franchise. Carr wanted nothing more than to lead the Raiders back to the top of the league and would do everything in his power to accomplish that goal.
Obviously, things did not go the way he wanted as the franchise, led by head coach Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler would make the decision to bench Carr for the final two games of a disappointing season for the team. The Raiders would ultimately release Carr before a large portion of his contract became guaranteed.
This was obviously a disappointing ending to his Raiders tenure for Carr, but despite that the former Raiders leader harbors no hard feelings towards McDaniels or Ziegler via Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
“I’ve got no hard feelings for them,” Carr said. “Maybe there’s a difference of opinion in certain things, but that’s in anything. … I want Josh and Dave to have success.”
Carr would add that he will always be a Raider and Las Vegas will always be home, driving home just how important the Raiders organization is to him. The Raiders franchise will always be in his heart, but now he has put his focus elsewhere.
Carr had previously said that he didn’t want to play anywhere else besides the Raiders and he meant that. But he has now joined the New Orleans Saints which he believes is an extremely special situation:
“Like I had said before, I didn’t want to play anywhere else (besides the Raiders),” he said. “So it was going to have to take a really, really special situation for me to want to play somewhere else.”
The move reunites Carr with former Raiders head coach Dennis Allen, Carr’s first NFL head coach who is now the coach of the Saints. He signed a four-year, $150 million deal to go to New Orleans where he joins another franchise looking to get back amongst the NFL’s elite.
Obviously, things did not go the way Carr envisioned in his tenure with the Raiders and despite surely having some rocky feelings towards the end towards McDaniels and Ziegler, Carr has been able to move on and focus on the task at hand with his new team. And now McDaniels and Ziegler can do the same as the Raiders move forward with their own vision.