Derek Carr Can No Longer Play Like a Rookie Quarterback for the Oakland Raiders

Technically, Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is a rookie, but he’s also the starting quarterback of an 0-4 team that is struggling offensively. Being a rookie second-round pick automatically made Carr the future, but when the Raiders decided to make him the starting quarterback this season, they were also saying they needed him to be the now.

It’s four games into Carr’s career and he can no longer act like a rookie, talk like a rookie or play like a rookie. A rookie quarterback is going to make mistakes that he must learn from, but the Raiders need to start seeing more growth and less pain in Carr’s play.

The future could be now for Carr as his status as the quarterback of the future is far from assured after this season. No one is quite sure if general manager Reggie McKenzie will be around next season, so Carr has 12 games to prove that he’s going to be something in this league.

Interim head coach Tony Sparano is trying to turn a bad team around, and the quickest way to do that is with better quarterback play. Carr needs to start flashing the potential that we’ve only seen in spurts to give his coach a fighting chance.

The ugly truth is that Carr hasn’t been very good so far this season. That doesn’t mean he won’t eventually be good, but the start isn’t necessarily an encouraging one.



All the advanced stats agree that Carr is one of the worst three to five starting quarterbacks in the entire league right now. Few quarterbacks that have performed like Carr are still starting, but the Raiders are sticking with him.

“He’s getting better and better every week,” Sparano said earlier this week, via Raiders.com. “I think he learns well from his mistakes...So, he’ll continue to grow. He’s had some bumps along the way here, bumps in the road, and he learns from them.”

Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders