Derek Carr hasn’t talked a lot about his ending with the Raiders, but this week he opened up (a little) about his final days with Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler.
Appearing on the Two G’s in a Pod podcast, Carr shared parts of his last conversation with McDaniels as a member of the Raiders and disclosed the reason they gave for benching him at the end of the season…
“I sat there with a pretty dumbfounded face and I said ‘I didn’t think nine years of work would end like this’ and they both said ‘Well, no. We don’t want it to end.’ And I was like ‘No, I think we’re past that.’
I told Josh [McDaniels] when I was in there. I said ‘Thank you. I appreciate it, guys.’ I think a lot of things, but thank goodness I can keep them in sometimes. In that moment I [didn’t] want to hurt any relationships. I [didn’t] want to say something stupid. You never know what the future holds…“
Carr said he asked McDaniels and Ziegler why he was being benched and they said it was because they wanted to get a look at the other quarterbacks on the roster…
“I was like ‘Why?’ and they were like ‘Honestly, we want to see what these two guys can do so we know what we have going into next year. And I said ‘Hey, That’s your decision. Ok. Got it. I’m a grown man. I’m not going to sit here and try to talk you out of a decision you want to make.’
I have talked to Josh since then. I’ve texted him. They beat a team and I texted him and said ‘That’s awesome. Congrats. He texted me right back when we had a big game and so… I try my best to make every relationship alright and cool no matter what the situation is.”
Asked if he had any feelings of vindication when McDaniels and Ziegler were fired and Carr said he did not…
“I didn’t need to say anything. Things played out the way they played out and we only went 9-8. Yeah, we had a winning record, but we didn’t make the playoffs. So, at the end of the day, who am I to say anything?
My heart actually felt for [Josh] because I knew his kids and knew his family. I know what it’s like to get released… that crap sucks… So I felt for Dave and I felt for Josh because one-on-one when you’re with them, they’re not bad people. They’re trying their best. They’re doing their best to do what they think is right… and I get all that. It’s a business. I really didn’t have a feeling of ‘I told you’ or any of that kind of stuff.”
The irony of the story is that Jarrett Stidham actually showed some promise at the end of the season, but McDaniels allowed him to leave the team in the offseason, as well.
The alternative to both quarterbacks was a three-year, $72.5 million deal for Jimmy Garoppolo that will soon result in a little more than $28 million in dead money to the team.
Quite a botched situation all around, but if nothing else, the $90 million McDaniels experiment did give the Raiders Antonio Pierce.
All is well that ends well, right?
twitter: @raidersbeat
First off I don’t believe him. When he was benched, he decided to leave the team and act like a bitch. He was the one who left, they didn’t tell him to leave. Look it up.
Who wrote this a kid ? Everybody that knows football knows they won’t cut him til post June 1st so it will only be a 15.5 mil dead cap hit but saving 12.8mil . Come on have to do better writing then that
I miss Derek Carr, I always thought you were a good QB, as well as a good role model for others. Was glad that you talked to Mark Davis, and that he owned up to the fact that he could of did better with you.
I wish you the best Derek,
Careful, your “All is well that ends well,” in relation to Pierce is very pre-mature.
We judge success in terms of wins and losses, not in passionate pronouncements, cigars, and happy talk.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.