Is Raiders owner Mark Davis intentionally committing organizational malpractice?
It sure looks that way. The team won 10 games last season and went to the playoffs as one of the league’s feel-good stories. Now, Davis seems intent on blowing it up.
Not only has quarterback Derek Carr been a productive player, but also he oozes passion, giving off the impression that he bleeds silver and black. He cares so much that he has been known to shed tears in postgame interviews.
Yet Carr, whose 91 consecutive starts (dating back to 2014) are second only to Tom Brady’s 108 among active quarterbacks, was benched this week for the final two games by Josh McDaniels, a head coach who earlier this season looked as if he wasn’t going to make it past Halloween.
It has gotten so weird in Las Vegas that Carr, a popular figure in the Raiders’ locker room, is reportedly going to stay away from team for the final two weeks to avoid being a distraction, apparently having played his final game for the only NFL team for which he has suited up.
Carr is in his ninth season, and has been voted into three Pro Bowls. He has 217 career touchdown passes to just 99 interceptions and has completed 64.6 percent of his passes. Though he has a league-high 14 picks this season, he has 24 TD passes. He’s the reason the Raiders were able to land star receiver Davante Adams in the offseason, as the two played together in college.
The feel-good story the Raiders were a year ago is long gone.
The Raiders went 10-7 in 2021 and were 7-5 under interim coach Rich Bisaccia. The players wanted him back, but were ignored by ownership. Las Vegas is 6-9 this season entering its game Sunday against the 49ers, with only a scant chance to get to the postseason.
Now, the owner seems bent on trading Carr, whom he signed to a three-year, $121.5 million contract extension in the spring. If Carr is cut within three days after the Super Bowl, the Raiders will incur a 2023 salary cap hit of just $5.625 million. His $32.9 million salary for next year and $7.5 million of his 2024 salary would be fully guaranteed should he be injured.
So, obviously what’s at play is the Raiders, having decided they’re ready to move on from Carr, putting him in bubble wrap for the final two games for fear of injury, despite the fact he holds virtually every passing record in franchise history.
All that just months after giving Carr that extension. That is first-level dysfunction.
“Obviously, I don’t think anybody was excited about it in here,” Adams said this week of the Carr move.
If you’re a Raiders fan and you trust Davis, you’re either on his payroll or you’re delusional.
Davis is an owner who was born on third base, thanks to his late dad Al, one the founding fathers of the league. Davis has fired two team presidents and two top financial executives, and last year accepted the resignation of head coach Jon Gruden after news broke of his sending of racist, misogynistic and homophobic emails. He, too, faced allegations that he fostered a “hostile workplace environment.”
And now this, blowing up the heart and soul of a team that’s coming off a second playoff appearance in 19 seasons.
Curious and inexplicable.
“They’re still in playoff contention and they pull the quarterback?” 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw said incredulously this week to reporters.
These are your Raiders, Las Vegas. Happy holidays.
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