The Las Vegas Raiders and owner Mark Davis have some big decisions to make coming up this offseason. Deciding on a permanent head coach is chief among them, but the future of quarterback Derek Carr is also one of the biggest question marks for this franchise moving forward.
Carr has been with the Raiders since 2014 and has had some great moments, but also plenty of questionable ones. He signed a five-year $125 million extension with the franchise in 2017 but will have only one year remaining on his deal following this season.
What the franchise decides will shape the future of the Raiders, and that decision will ultimately fall on the head of Mark Davis. In fact, in a recent appearance on the State of the Nation podcast, Vic Tafur noted that he believes Davis will make that decision before deciding on the team’s next head coach (transcription via Raidersbeat.com):
“I think Mark Davis will make a decision [on Carr] and then go into the search with that in mind,” Tafur said this week on the State of the Nation podcast. “I just don’t know if he’s going to rely on a new coach to influence him giving Carr a $180 million extension or whatever it’s going to cost to keep him past this year.”
“I am of the belief that Mark Davis will make a decision,” Tafur continued. “He hired the last two coaches basically and he’ll hire this one so I think he’ll use whatever he has decided on Derek to kind of frame who he wants to bring in. I’m sure he’ll listen to ideas and he’ll be open to some things, but I think his mind will pretty much be made up as far a quarterback before the coaching search really gets going.”
Whether or not this is the ideal route is up for debate, but it seems pretty clear that the decision will ultimately come down to Davis. So far, Carr has had a solid season, completing 68.3% of his passes for 3,926 yards with 18 touchdowns to 10 interceptions through 13 games. But in a division that boasts Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert, the question is whether Carr is good enough to keep pace with that level of play.
It can certainly be argued that getting a coach first and allowing him to evaluate Carr and how he fits the system is the better move, but if Davis intends on going about it in this way, then that is what it will be. The Raiders will be one of the most-watched teams this offseason.
