surprised.
He went there or stayed there he still living in Las Vegas
but he got the invitation to the Pro Bowl games. All three
of the original
AFC, quarterbacks out for a variety of reasons,
Derek Carr in and hey do his credit. It's an opportunity to
kind of show up and remind everyone I'm still here
throwing the ball around last night. Kind of an unofficial
pro day workout for teams that may be interested Peter
this continues to
To be just a weird bizarre story because
number one, the Raiders didn't have to give Derek Carr new
contract last year. And number two, the way they structure
the contract, they included that escape hatch. That was obvious
to me. When I first started breaking down the numbers,
I mean it's not hiding in
in some Nook or cranny of the deal. It was right there. They
have an out if they want to use it and they're going to use it,
apparently they're going to move on
or work out a trade
before February 15. When he has 40 point four million dollars,
Rosie come do in salary between this year
and part of next year
and and we wait, the clock is ticking loudly Peter toward
February 15.
Mike, explain this to me. I have not studied this contract
the way you have,
but I guess here is my question.
Do you actually think there is some team in the NFL
that would do, two things. Number one, trade a
middle. Let's say, a third round draft, pick
to the Raiders for Derek Carr and then also
pay him 40 million dollars.
You know, when he as soon as the deal is agreed to
or commit to paying them 40 million dollars,
why would a team do that?
You know, team exile.
Out there pick a team, the Jets
Washington, whoever,
you know, they they didn't agree to the terms of this
contract. Why should they have to live by it? And that to me,
is the reason look, I'm not,
I'm not positive. That Derek Carr is going to be great.
And, you know, you would think you would think
that to commit 40 million dollars, plus some draft Capital,
you know, on day. One to a quarterback,
you would say,
If we don't think there's a very good chance, this guy
could lead us to
deep into the playoffs.
Why are we doing this?
And that's a great point.
We don't know who would make that commitment but it is
a dual commitment that
necessarily reflects and I've been explaining it this way
if a team is willing
to guarantee 40 point 4 million to Derek Carr, and it's a base
salary of 32 this year and it's the remainder of fully
guaranteed salary in 2024, but if you're willing to do that
and give the Raiders what they're looking for.
The reality is if Derek Carr was Was on the open market.
That team would do more.
If that team is willing to take on that contract and give
the Raiders draft. Pick compensation mid-round or
higher than if Derek Carr was just a free agent, he could
probably do a better deal. This isn't
one of those situations and I've seen this over the years where
a player has a contract that is so favorable to the team,
that another team trades for the contract. They want to get
the guy before he becomes a free agent. The contract is too
good. You don't.
To see that contract, get ripped up, and the player
become a free agent, and that's just not the case here. And
that's why I've thought all along that when push comes to
shove on this Peter,
they're not going to be able to trade Derek Carr
and and
that sets aside the reality that all they could do is reach
an unofficial deal to trade. Derek Carr, in the middle of
March, a deal on which the other side could back away at
any time without consequence, another team could do to Josh
McDaniels with Josh.
McDaniel's, did the Cults five years ago with no consequence
perfectly within the rules. Sorry Marc Davis. Woke up this
morning and I decided, you know, I was listening to Peter
King on PFT live back on February 3rd and he
made a pretty good point. Why the hell would I want to
guarantee 40 point four million sight? Unseen for Derek Carr,
I'm out.
Sorry, I know we had an unofficial agreement but you
know, it's not official until the first day of the league
year so I'm out so that timeline has Always been screwy
and I continue to believe
that it's pointing toward the Raiders.
Ripping up the contract on
Valentine's Day. And Derek Carr becoming a free agent with
a five-week head. Start on the open market.
I think so too. Mike. That makes the most sense to me. And
look, I'll tell you one other thing that that occurred to me
when I was thinking about a team
guaranteeing him,
absolute minimum, 40 point four million
this year, and then beyond that, obviously you're not just
going to make this a one-year deal. I wouldn't think
so. This the other thing I thought of
What was the story line last July and August going into
the NFL season?
Oh my gosh, Derek Carr is in Nirvana for quarterbacks.
He is in. He is with Josh McDaniels
and this is an unbelievable spot for him.
Not only is he with Josh McDaniels but
they went out and did exactly what he wanted to
what he wanted. Add them to do. They,
he went out, they went out rather
and God him Davante Adams,
and so you tell me Mike right now,
this is this is almost
an unfair question. But you tell me right now,
okay? Like
whoever's fault, this was okay. Whoever's fault. This was
The fact is
that in Derek Cars last five games for the Raiders,
he threw 2 1 2, 1 and 3 interceptions, they had that
ugly
loss. You know on the Franco Harris day. You know on
on Christmas Eve night in Pittsburgh
and then all of a sudden
three days later what happens.
Derek car disappears.
I mean
I just I think this whole thing
if I'm a team,
am I saying to myself,
I want to be really, really aggressive
on a guy who's going to be 32 years old next opening day,
who just was in an ideal place.
You would think any quarterback in the world will want to be
with Josh, McDaniels throwing to
Dante Adams Hunter Renfro.
It was perfect. It was perfect.
And he basically makes an agreement to stay away.
For the last things are so bad
that he stays away for the last two weeks of the season.
And in the first game,
some guy who nobody ever heard of plays a better game
against the 49ers.
Then Derek Carr played all year.
I'm sorry. Mike. There's something wrong with this picture
and that's why I, I think anytime
his best Avenue is to be a free agent. And if I were him and
I were his agent, I'm not sure. I would expect the pot of gold at
the end of the rainbow.
Well, and, you know, the bottom line is Derek. Carr has a lot
more control over this process than I think we've realized.
And as time goes by and more starts to come out,
the signs are there that Derek Carr is ready to draw the line
in the sand and say I refuse to waive. My no-trade Clause.
I refuse to change anything about my contract.
You have to decide. If you keep me around as a February 15
I'm fully guaranteed 40 point four million.
You want to squat on me?
You want to pull a Marcus Allen on me and say do ki fine. Just
sit home or stay on the sidelines and we'll pay you to
not play. That's 40 point. Four million in Mark, Davis is not
one of the cash
Rich owners in the NFL who can just bat an eye at 40 point
four million dollars. So I think when push comes to shove,
they're going to move on from and but there's still going to
try to trade him.
There's a stubbornness here
Sims, and I were talking about this yesterday,
he and he's right Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler
coach and GM. Lovely of the Raiders are not dumb. They're
not dumb but they're stubborn.
And stubborn can make you do dumb things here. Ziegler from
yesterday talking about the interest that he claims is out
there in a trade for Derek Carr
Derek's a phenomenal player to and he's a phenomenal human
being and you know we're going to obviously we have some
things, some dominoes to fall and and you know some things
that we have to look at relative to his
situation and our quarterback situation going forward in 23 but
there's no no no
no no. This is important as a quarterback position and you
you all know that everybody knows that and so you know
we're going to be putting a lot of work
you know. Put a lot of work in on that front and
and kind of seeing how it all plays out here.
Well yeah. I don't need a specific answer. But
have you gotten interest if I was in a sling? And I
saw what happened to Derek, I'd be calling you going on
today. We want to talk a little bit here. Yeah.
Yeah, you know, and I think
here this week at the Senior Bowl, obviously everybody's
here and so,
you know this this is a good time to have those
conversations but There's going to be people interested in
Derek Carr. There's no there's no doubt about that,
you know he's you know been a good football player in this
league for for quite some time. And like I said, he's
a phenomenal human being and
you know we'll kind of just see where it goes.
Yeah I mean it's going
toward February 15 which will be here before we know it. It's
not. And this is an example of having a good Agent.
The deadline that was put into the new contract that Derek
Carr signed last year. Wasn't March fifteen, March 20, March
30
when the Raiders had to make their decision,
it was a month before free agency. So if they do make
the decision and they're forced to make the decision
to move on from the 4.4 million,
then there's a full month
before any of the free agents are available to be signed
where Derek Carr is the only one out there, he's got a month
where He can go visit teams and talk to teams. He doesn't have
to wait. There is no tampering at issue.
They could take him to the scouting, combine and walk him
around to meet with the team's. I mean, there's all sorts of
things you can do. When you hit the market a month early,
that gives him an advantage. And, you know, Peter,
this all kind of started to hit full boil earlier this week
when it was reported and has since been confirmed by car
himself that the Raiders haven't given car and his agent
permission to try to work their trade.
Well, if To try to control this process, which is what
the Raiders are doing.
How do you expect? Eric Carter, cooperate with you,
you're hinging all of this. Hey Derek, just take a seat. Will
find will find a trade for you.
Just you hang back there and wait, we'll find you a good trade.
They still have to convince him
to waive, his no-trade clause or maybe
take less money,
or maybe change the date
of. When that money becomes do.
He said last night, he's not changing that date and I think
embedded in that answer. Sir. He's also not waiving his
no-trade clause and they're just wasting their time.
Because when push comes to shove again, his attitude is
going to be. You got to pay me or you got to cut me.
And that's probably what I would do if I were him to.
I just you know my I think
this probably has something to do with the fact that
on the
I think it was the second or third day of Raiders training
camp in July. I was in Las Vegas. And
I sat in on
McDaniels and,
and car had a meeting every day like 20 minutes in which
Went over all of sort of the new things that they wanted to
correct.
You know that they were doing that, they thought that they
had some questions on and it was just sort of
a clarification meeting
and I walked out of there and I just thought man, these guys
are really good for each other cars already. Speaking
the McDaniels language,
there's clear understanding on both sides.
It's great. Now you're
Going to have to make a decision.
And I'm sure that a team that's looking into it.
If you're Joe Douglas of the New York Jets,
your Martin Mayhew with a Washington commanders.
Your Scott fiderer, the Carolina Panthers,
I think less of a chance he would be.
But your, anybody, your Mickey Loomis?
Okay, and you're looking around. So, here's my question.
What the hell? Went wrong.
In the 20 games before Josh McDaniels walked into
walked onto campus
20 games.
Derek Carr threw for 320 yards or more eight times.
Last season Derek Carr never threw for 320 yards
in a game and he had Davante Adams.
So I am I am really stuck on this one, Mike
and they've done a very good job of tamping. Down
any discussion
of where this all went South, but it went South
and it went South in a huge way
and the Raiders were
Out of the playoffs late and all that stuff. And
and it was a bad season
and you know whoever looks into Derek Carr
is going to have to feel very good
about what happened at the end of this season. Because right
now, it is
the great unknown.
When Jon Gruden became coach of the Raiders again,
five years ago someone that I trust very much said. This
isn't going to end well with him and Derek Carr because
Derek Carr is going to crumble
under this Relentless, tirade of f-bombs from Jon Gruden. As
he demands. Derek Carr to suddenly morphed into Joe.
Montana Gruden. Backed off Gruden understood. He had to
modify his approach who's going to lose his quarterback.
I wonder Peter, whether or not Josh McDaniels made
Concessions. No adjustments.
No
limitations on the Patriot Way,
the way that you coach quarterbacks they coach them,
I dared in The Patriot Way Tom, Brady got coached very hard so
that may have been
so five years after four years after we thought Gruden was
going to break Derek Carr. It very well may be that
the Patriot Way is what
is what got you know I mean Josh McDaniels has Tom Brady to
compare every
E, other quarterback, he ever has on his roster to
and there was something in the makeup of Derek Carr that
caused him to conclude. This guy is not the one who's going
to take us to the top of the mountain period.
So we move on.
the other thing that I do, I wouldn't like right now about
the way this matchup was
you know, of these two guys
think of it Mike
Here's his last three years
pre, McDaniels completion percentage,
70 point, for sixty seven, point three 68.4
this year 60.88.
And so
the one thing that if I were a team,
the easiest thing in the world to do right now is four teams
looking into Derek Carr to say,
you know,
McDaniel's expected him to be Tom Brady. He was unreasonable,
the expectations, put too much on his plate. La Di Da, Di Da,
Di Da,
which
Mike. I'm not saying that didn't happen, because I don't
know what happened,
but what would happen if you had, let's say a coach like
Sean, Payton,
like,
one of the reasons, Russell Wilson wanted Sean, Payton, to
be the coach of the Denver Broncos. He knew that his
Career was teetering on the edge of a cliff
and he knows that he needs to be coached hard and he needs to
basically become a ball of clay and say, okay, Coach
do with me what you want to do.
I think that is Sean Payton's
impression going into the job, we'll see if it comes out that
way.
But my only point is this,
there are some coaches
who are going to coach you really hard and who are going
to be demanding. I think that every week you be willing to
learn new stuff
and all that. But with that
with those great expectations
also, come great, expectations for performance.
And again, I don't know whose fault it was
and I doubt it was altogether, one person's fault. But if
I were looking into this, I would not just simply say
McDaniel. Is he expecting him to be Brady? Nobody's going to
be Brady. Give us give us Derek Carr and you may still come
away saying, give us Derek Carr, but I can't believe in
this all
in all of this, that he's faultless.
I'll and I'm not saying that
that this is a situation where McDaniels
simply soured on Derek Carr because he's not Tom Brady I'm
talking about the way. Brady handled hard coaching and
the way car handled it and I just suspect that car didn't react,
don't know it but I'm just trying to
discern from the circumstantial evidence
where this went sideways,
I would suspect that car maybe didn't
Act and respond to aggressive coaching. The way that
Josh McDaniels hopes and, you know, you've got some guys in
the league. You got quarterbacks in the league that
don't want to be told
how to do their job. I know how to do my job and then if you're
freelance a little bit you don't want to be called out by
your coach. You don't want him in your face yelling at you and
you definitely don't want to be in the film room.
Having the coach show, some of your low lights from the week
that was and embarrassing you in front of everyone for
the dumb decisions. that you made or the things, you should have
done that you didn't do, and
that may be part of
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