The Las Vegas Raiders’ 2023 NFL season was the first year that the team didn’t have Derek Carr as their starting quarterback in nearly a decade.
Former head coach Josh McDaniels and Carr couldn’t get on the same page, and the latter was benched toward the end of the 2022 season after a couple of rough games. It was the beginning of the end for Carr’s tenure with the silver and black and he was eventually released.
It was disappointing to see someone like Carr treated the way he was on the way out after all he had given to the organization, though he did well for himself when he signed a lucrative four-year deal with the New Orleans Saints.
While Carr might harbor some hard feelings toward the organization, he had nothing but kind things to say about Raiders owner Mark Davis in an appearance on “Pardon My Take,” Carr waxed poetically about Davis as transcribed by Austin Boyd of Heavy.com:
“I’ll tell you this: Mark has been and will always be – he’s been so good to me,” Carr said. “He is like the biggest critic of his football team. But at the same time, nobody loves him more. And so, yeah, sure there’s times where he’s probably super frustrated with me: ‘Why didn’t we do this?’ But he just wants to understand because he didn’t come from that football coaching background.
“And so, he just wants to understand the ‘why.’ And so, as he keeps surrounding himself — think about Tom’s [Brady] there now in the ownership and [Richard] Seymour may join and all of that — as he keeps surrounding himself with football people and all of that and understanding the process and that, I think that they’ll have more success.”
Davis was a fan of Carr and always supported him publicly, and it sounds like the quarterback still holds him in high regard. Davis has been working tirelessly to find the right pieces to get Las Vegas over the hump and no one questions his dedication and effort toward that goal.
Carr will always hold a special place in Raiders history as he is the franchise’s leader in all-time passing yards and touchdowns. His legacy with the team is intact and he should always be remembered fondly for his time with them.
Raiders’ Aidan O’Connell switches jersey from No. 4 to No. 12 out of respect for Derek Carr
Aidan O’Connell understands what Carr means to the Raiders and paid him tribute by switching his jersey number to No. 12.
