Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr shared a practice routine that may finally help him use his athleticism in the pocket.
We’ve heard this objective before: Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr aims to use his athletic ability to extend plays, move the pocket and flip a dead-end sequence into a completion.
However, hearing about the objective and seeing it play out consistently on the field in game-action are, as we know, different things entirely. That’s not stopping Carr from putting the objective back into the air, though.
Following the Oakland Raiders first training camp practice, he addressed that part of his game during a media press conference
He said the following, per Raiders.com:
"“So scrambling is actually something we have worked on a lot. It’s something where coach will tell the DB, ‘Hey jump this,’ so that I can’t throw it, and it makes me scramble.We had one today on 7-on-7 where I had to get out and scramble. That is something that I’ve really tried to work hard on, to be honest with you, all offseason, because I feel like I am athletic enough to do some damage that way. I haven’t done that well enough, and I plan on doing that.”"
Again, this isn’t a new revelation. Carr has the wheels to evade defenders and the awareness to keep his eyes downfield to deliver pinpoint strikes to his pass-catchers, but he has to practice that scenario to put everything together. The 28-year old signal-caller painted a picture of the behind-the-scenes habits that could help him add another wrinkle to his play style.
Through five seasons, Carr has registered 148 rush attempts for 413 yards and a touchdown. He doesn’t need to pad his rushing statistics to prove a point. Instead, head coach Jon Gruden would probably like to see his signal-caller keep plays alive with a pass rush bearing down on him.
In 2018, Carr looked like a sitting silver and black duck in many outings, taking 51 sacks behind a porous offensive line. Although the front office addressed the unit, signing right tackle Trent Brown and left guard Richie Incognito, the nimble quarterback can do his best to keep himself out of harm’s way.
Looking downfield, Carr will see wide receivers Antonio Brown and Tyrell Williams, who wants to prove he’s more than just a deep threat, per NBCS Bay Area’s Scott Bair:
People see Tyrell Williams and think deep threat. New Raiders WR thinks he’s one of the more underrated receivers running short and intermediate routes as well. He’s out this year to show he can be a complete receiver.
— Scott Bair (@ScottBairNFL) July 27, 2019
With Brown and Williams working their way downfield and coming back to the ball in certain play designs, we’ll see how Carr has progressed when reacting to the action and using his legs to improvise on the fly.