New FSM Feature: Raiders Extend Derek Carr for 3 Years

New FSM Feature: Raiders Extend Derek Carr for 3 Years

Franchise Sports Media

 

The Raiders and Derek Carr agreed to a three-year extension worth $121.5MM Tuesday. The Raiders’ star quarterback will remain in place through the 2025 season.

 

The Las Vegas Raiders locked in their quarterback, Derek Carr, for the foreseeable future. Carr signed a three-year extension worth $121.5 million, including a no-trade clause. Altogether, Carr is set to earn $141.3MM over the next four years, with $100MM coming in the next three seasons. That’s player-friendly cash flow for Carr, who was fighting for his Raiders’ future just a couple of years ago.

It’s the latest splash in the Raiders’ busy offseason, following their acquisition of wide receiver Davante Adams. Ultimately, GM Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels have kept much of the core intact while revamping the team after a tumultuous 2021.

Carr’s $40.5MM new-money average puts him fifth among all quarterbacks, and he’s now the seventh member of the league’s $40MM/year club, joining Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, and Dak Prescott.

Carr, who just turned 31, had one year to go on his old deal with a cap hit of $19.8MM. After he notched a career-high 4,804 passing yards en route to his first-ever playoff appearance, the Raiders were unwilling to risk losing him. Now, Carr’s got a fat new contract and an old friend in Adams, his former teammate at Fresno State.

“Derek’s fit on the team, as a player, is obviously what we’re looking for and what we’re trying to build around,” McDaniels said recently. “[When it comes to the contract,] you try and do what’s best for the team. When we get into those conversations with Derek, Derek’s going to have to make decisions about what’s best for him…There will be a sweet spot in there hopefully for everybody, and we’ll be excited to go forward like that.”

Carr’s contract contains a $65.5MM injury guarantee, and the deal will give the ninth-year veteran a $5.2MM raise in 2022. Carr will make $24.9MM fully guaranteed in 2022.

A key date comes after Super Bowl LVII. Three days after the Super Bowl, Carr will see $40.5MM, his $33MM 2023 salary, and $7.5MM of his 2024 pay. This would give the Raiders a small window to work out a trade in 2023, but Carr’s no-trade clause gives him the final say on any potential escape-hatch deal for the team.

 

This will end any speculation that Carr would not be the Raiders signal-caller this season.

 

“But the fact that they keep believing in me and watching the tape and saying, ‘Wow, we want you to be here for some more years or some more time,’ that means more to me, way more to me than any of the other stuff it has to do with,” Carr said. “It was very clear to me how they felt about me from day one.”

Carr has made it known publicly throughout his career that he wanted to remain a Raider, and he did so again Tuesday when he met with the press to discuss his new deal.

“I told my agent, ‘I’m either going to be a Raider, or I’m going to be playing golf. I don’t want to play anywhere else,'” he said. “That’s how much this place means to me.

“I hope people can hear my heart on that — that I was dead serious when I [said] that. I had one year left on my contract; if it was one year, it was going to be one year. Thankfully it will be four more. Hopefully, we can build on that, I can finish and just do what I set out to do nine years ago, and that was to win a championship.”

Carr told the media that his extension was structured to allow for the signings of Adams, Jones, and “hopefully Hunter [Renfrow] and Foster [Moreau] and those guys can stay here.”

“I went through a heartbreak the last time I signed my contract — my best friend left [Khalil Mack],” he said. “And I didn’t want that to ever happen again.”

 

Derek Carr is now locked into being the Raiders’ quarterback for the next four seasons, and it’s time for him to lead the Raiders to the promised land. The Raiders gave him the commitment he wanted, and now it’s time to “Just Win, Baby!”

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-Joe Arrigo– Franchise Sports Media