Derek Carr has ascended to something more than just a serviceable quarterback. I think he’s one of the 10 best players at the position nowadays.
The numbers of late, have been really impressive – 435 yards and 2 TDs in an overtime win against the Ravens, and 382 yards and another 2 TDs at Pittsburgh against a defense that the previous week made things tough on Josh Allen.
Carr is smart, and he and Jon Gruden are now at the point where they’ve been working together for a few years, taking that offense to a new level. We can now put away the idea of Carr being a placeholder quarterback – an adequate starter while Gruden waits for more of a difference maker.
Carr is an elite guy nowadays. Dipping back into last season, there was a Thursday night game where Carr got knocked in the first quarter. Otherwise he’s passed for at least 316 yards in six straight games, with multiple touchdowns in all of the.
In his last six full games, Carr has averaged 370 passing yards, with 15 total touchdowns (12 passing, 3 runs).
The Raiders lost Nelson Agholor in the offseason, but that hasn’t slowed down that offense at all. They have everything they need in terms of pass catchers, with maybe the team’s best tight end (Darren Waller), a good pass-catching back (Kenyan Drake) and a trio of serviceable young wide receivers (Hunter Renfrow, Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards). Ruggs and Edwards are both more comfortable now that they’re in their second seasons.
Carr isn’t much of a runner; that works against him in most fantasy formats. But he looks like he’ll finish with top-10 quarterbacking numbers in a lot of weeks. Relative to what he cost, he might be the best quarterback value of the 2021 season.
| DEREK CARR: last 7 games | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Score | Com | Att | Yds | TDP | Int | TDR |
| at NYJ | W 31-28 | 28 | 47 | 381 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Ind. | L 27-44 | 31 | 45 | 316 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| LAC | L 27-30 | 3 | 5 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mia. | L 25-26 | 21 | 34 | 336 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| at Den. | W 32-31 | 24 | 38 | 371 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Balt. | W 33-27 | 34 | 56 | 435 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| at Pitt. | W 26-17 | 28 | 37 | 382 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
—Ian Allan