Derek Carr: Would You?

Aloha, Skoloholics! As we know, it’s the silly season known as the NFL off-season. This is the time when we’ll hear all kinds of crazy rumors and rampant speculation. Well, we don’t want to miss out on all the fun, do we? I agree, so here we go. Keep in mind, I am NOT advocating for this move to be made, just exploring the possibility.

Derek Carr: Free Agent

The Raiders are expected to release Derek Carr after the quarterback refused to accept a trade to the Saints, or to any other team. This will force the Raiders to release Carr TODAY, otherwise his 2023 salary ($32.9 million) and $7.5 million of his 2024 salary fully guarantees. I don’t see a scenario where they keep Carr. He will be released today, possibly before I finish posting this.

Would You?

All that being said. Would you? I know, I know, Cousins has a no-trade clause, so this is a nearly impossible scenario, but as we’ve already established, it’s the silly season. It’s an interesting conversation to have. At the very least, it allows us to gauge a potential replacement for Kirk Cousins, which is a popular subject with some in the fan base.

Looking at Derek Carr’s production and stats, he is like a cheap version of Cousins, even though Carr had an elite offensive line in front of him for some of his career. Carr puts up some yards, as he’s averaged just under 4,000 yards a year over his 9-year career. He’s thrown 217 touchdowns and 99 interceptions over that period of time, and completed 64.6% of his passes.

How much would Carr demand for a salary? Dude just got benched by the team who drafted him in 2014, and the team for whom Carr has started ever since being drafted. He’s put up some stats, but his career QB record (dumb stat, but something worth looking at) is 63-79-0 (wow, he’s never had a tie game!?), and he’s only led his teams to two winning seasons in his 9-year career.

Playoffs?

Carr led his team to a 12-3 record in 2016, but was injured at the end of the year and he didn’t play in the playoffs & the Raiders were bounced by the Texans in the wild card round. They BARELY squeaked into the playoffs in 2021 with an overtime victory in week 17 to give them a wild card spot. This was Derek Carr’s only playoff appearance, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Raiders were bounced in the wild card round once again. Derek Carr is 0-1 in the playoffs in his 9-year career. Ouch.

If a team offers Carr $25 million a year, would he accept it? Is he worth $25 million? Keep in mind that even if the Vikings managed to trade Cousins (post 6/1 designation), the Vikings would eat over $6 million in dead money. So, even if they signed Carr for $25 million, they’re still paying the position $31.25 million. Is the downgrade to Carr worth saving $5 million?

Free Agency Viability

If nothing else, this exercise in futility will provide a brief glimpse into what it might look like if we try to replace Cousins with a free agent. It isn’t a pretty option, unless you can find a diamond in the rough who just hasn’t found the right home yet. We could bring Teddy back. Someone like Mayfield might be had for a low price, but would you like to see Mayfield leading the Vikings next year? If none of this sounds attractive, then the only way to move on from Cousins is by drafting a QB of the future.

I’ve been a Vikings fan a LONG time, and I’ve seen some years with crappy production from the QB position. I don’t care to see that again. I don’t believe in making changes just for the sake of change, as the law of unintended consequences tends to bite you hard eventually. If the Vikings are going to move on from a guy who has provided stability at the position, they’d better have a plan in place to improve the position.

Draft a Quarterback of the Future

I really want to see the Vikings finally draft their QB of the future. I can tolerate some shaky play from a rookie if he’s a QB who is going to develop at some point. The Vikings track record with drafting QBs has been horrible historically, but I chalk that up to a lack of effort. The team has just not attempted to snag “their guy” via a high draft pick very often. Four times since 1980, to be exact, according to SKOR North.

Yikes. Four legitimate attempts in 42 years does not signify much effort. The Vikings have hit on two and missed badly on two. Pep and Teddy were both good QBs, but their careers were limited by injuries. Ponder, LOL, we all remember that, and T-Jack was merely a decent backup. I hope that Kwesi-Adofo-Mensah and his folks can use their magic to FINALLY find a long-term solution to the Vikings’ QB position via the draft. The team has not made much of an effort, historically, and a team must have a competent quarterback in order to compete in today’s NFL.