5 NFL players under pressure to step up in 2019 season
Derek Carr
Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is coming into an important year in his career. Last season, he struggled all year in what was his first season with head coach Jon Gruden. He threw for a career-low 19 touchdowns and had a career-high 21 combined turnovers in 2018. Granted he had to learn a completely new offense, but for a quarterback that was in MVP talks a couple of seasons back, much more was expected of him.
He didn’t have the supporting cast he did in the past, however, as his primary target, Amari Cooper, was traded away during the season. The offensive line was also not the same, as they allowed Carr to be sacked 51 times last season.
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Carr now has had an entire offseason to get used to Gruden’s offense and arguably got an upgrade at receiver in Antonio Brown. The Raiders also drafted Josh Jacobs from Alabama, so Carr has some pieces around him to make things work for the Raiders.
The pressure to bounce back from a subpar year is there for Carr. Gruden didn’t draft Carr, he inherited him. There was talk about the Raiders potentially trying to get a quarterback in this past draft. Although it didn’t come to fruition, it is now known that the Raiders could be looking at a change at quarterback in the near future if Carr fails to meet expectations.
He added a little more pressure when he made his “negative 47 percent” comments referring to his belief that the Raiders would draft a quarterback. He seems very confident that he is the signal-caller of the future in Oakland, but that is no guarantee. Gruden is the kind of coach to get rid of a quarterback if they don’t perform to his liking and 2018 was a bad first impression.
Carr has all the tools he needs to succeed in Oakland. The defense is improved from last season and he now has the offensive weapons he lacked in the previous season. 2018 can be seen as a mulligan for Carr but, in 2019, he will need to get back to the old Derek Carr. The time is ticking for Carr and he needs to get the Raiders back to the top of a crowded AFC West.