Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr recently signed a record-breaking five-year, $125 million extension, making him the highest paid player in the league.
Soon after, Oakland also reached an agreement with offensive guard Gabe Jackson on a five-year, $56 million extension, also keeping him with the Raiders longterm.
The abundance of spending has the Raiders pretty much maxed out as far as the salary cap goes, so reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack will need to wait until next offseason to sign his extension.
That was almost the case for Jackson as well, but according to Carr’s brother, former NFL quarterback David Carr, Derek took less money in his deal to enable Jackson’s extension, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk:
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said when he signed his five-year, $125 million contract with the Raiders that he left money on the table to make sure Oakland could keep some teammates. Carr’s brother says one particular teammate was a very high priority.
According to David Carr, Derek took less money with the understanding that guard Gabe Jackson would be re-signed soon. That news comes from David Carr’s NFL Network colleague Dan Hellie.
Carr leaving money on the table to help out his teammate comes as no surprise, as that is the attitude that Carr has demonstrated all throughout his career.
Jackson was also part of an offensive line unit that gave up just 18 sacks last season, which was the least in the NFL.
With Carr, Jackson and Marshawn Lynch all agreeing to contract with the Raiders this offseason, their sixth ranked offense from last season looks to be even better going into 2017.
