Derek Carr gets one final goodbye in Las Vegas after all

As fate would have it, Derek Carr will get one last chance to say goodbye to the faithful of Raider Nation after all. The Raiders effectively benched Carr and sent him away for the final couple of weeks of the 2022 regular season, a decision that shocked many given the fact that the Raiders’ alternative was Jarrett Stidham.

Of course, Stidham is one of Josh McDaniels’ guys from his time in New England, so why are we surprised?

McDaniels has all but jettisoned his second franchise QB in as many head coaching opportunities as he’s had, and the writing is on the wall for Carr to now be traded elsewhere in 2023. We’ve already begun speculating on where that could be, but Carr is a strong fixture in the locker room, a tremendous leader, and a good quarterback. He’ll have a new home quickly.

One of the major issues taken with the falling out the Raiders have had with Carr (thanks to McDaniels) is the fact that he didn’t get the chance to have a proper send-off as a fixture of the franchise since 2014. Carr has helped take the Raiders to the playoffs multiple times throughout his career, something that couldn’t be said of anyone who played QB before him while the Raiders went through an embarrassing drought with no playoffs following their Super Bowl loss to the Buccaneers in the 2002 season.

After missing the playoffs until the 2016 season (seriously, the drought lasted from 2002-2016), the Raiders made the playoffs twice in Carr’s tenure with the team and now he’ll be looking to do that for some other NFL franchise.

But not before one last goodbye in Las Vegas.

Derek Carr named to the 2023 Pro Bowl Games

Where will Carr land in 2023? Well, that remains to be seen, but a lot of teams should be calling the Raiders in order to get him. Teams picking outside of the top 10 in the 2023 NFL Draft, especially.

A team like the Washington Commanders could really thrive with Carr under center. Perhaps Frank Reich and the Panthers feel Carr would be a better alternative than anyone in this year’s draft that could realistically be available to them at 9th overall.

Maybe the New Orleans Saints are begging the Denver Broncos to trade for Sean Payton so they can turn around and send some picks to the Raiders to get Carr.

We don’t know at this point, but what we do know is that Derek Carr and the Raiders are done. A trade will happen in the coming weeks. Whoever lands Carr will hopefully be adding him into a situation — specifically defensively — where he can have a much better backing than he’s had with the Raiders for nearly a decade.