Derek Carr signed three-year, $121.5M contract extension with Raiders

If the offseason quotes weren’t enough, the Raiders have now made a clear stance on the future of Derek Carr.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo, Carr and the Raiders have agreed to terms on a three-year deal extension worth $121.5 million.

According to Rapoport and Garafolo, Carr’s agreement runs through the 2025 season and contains a no-trade clause. The extension was later revealed by the team.

“I’ve only wanted to be a Raider,” Derek Carr said in a press conference. “And I told my agent, I said ‘I’m either going to be a Raider or I’m going to be playing golf, like I don’t want to be playing anywhere else.’ That’s how much this place means to me.”

Carr’s new contract will pay him an average of $40.5 million per year, putting him seventh among quarterbacks in terms of average yearly compensation.

It’s a figure that may surprise people who don’t think of Carr as a top quarterback, but it’s money well spent for the Raiders, who saw Derek Carr establish the franchise’s single-season passing yardage record (4,804) in 2021, surpassing Rich Gannon’s mark set in his NFL MVP-winning 2002 season.

The cost of good-but-not-great quarterback play has risen in tandem with the most lucrative contracts paid out to the league’s best quarterbacks.

The increase in salary makes sense in the pass-first NFL, and many who watched Derek Carr in 2021 will agree that it was good for Las Vegas to extend Carr’s contract beyond the last year of his current deal.

Those who disagree should take a look at the quarterback’s most recent performance. Carr’s completion % (64.8), throwing yards per game (282.6), and passing yards per attempt all placed him in the top eight (7.7).

Carr’s passer rating of 94 was lower than his prior marks of 101.4 and 100.8 established in 2020 and 2019, but considering the conditions in which he played — including the in-season departures of his head coach and top receiver — Carr’s performance was excellent.

With a frenzied late-season push that included last-second wins over Cleveland, Indianapolis, and the Los Angeles Chargers in the season’s final month, Las Vegas overcame obstacles to reach the playoffs.

Carr, a quarterback who has proven to be significantly more efficient as a passer over the last four seasons, increasing his combined completion percentage, passing yards per game, yards per attempt, and passer rating in 2018-2021 compared to 2014-2017, is essential for the Raiders to reach Super Wild Card Weekend.

Since 2018, Derek Carrhas accumulated the fourth-most passing yards in the NFL, trailing only Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, and Matt Ryan, and even outperforming Aaron Rodgers, the NFL MVP in 2020 and 2021. Since being drafted in 2014, Carr has been regularly available, as one of only seven quarterbacks to start 115 or more games.

Carr isn’t the best quarterback in the world, but he’s in the same league as them.

After several offseasons of speculation surrounding Carr’s future with the Silver and Black, the new Las Vegas leadership pair of Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels made sure to put any doubts to rest by signing him until 2022.

For the time being, we can put such conjecture about Carr’s long-term future with the Raiders to rest. All that’s left for the quarterback to do now is rekindle his friendship with former Fresno State running back Davante Adams.

If they can continue where they left off in college, the Raiders might win their first postseason game since the AFC Championship Game in 2002.

“My agent, myself, and the team, we made sure guys like Chandler (Jones), guys like Davante, guys like hopefully Hunter (Renfrow), and Foster (Moreau), all those guys can stay here,” Derek Carr said. “The way we structured it, I went through a heartbreak already the last time I signed my contract. My best friend (Khalil Mack) left, and I didn’t want that to happen ever again.

“So this was an opportunity for me to prove to the team, to the organization, to our fans, that the way we’re going to structure this is so that we can keep everybody together and really have continuity, have something to build on.”

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