Former Packers and Raiders wide receiver James Jones predicted that Derek Carr will throw for 5,000 yards under the Raiders new coaching staff and be in the running for league MVP.
Jones was asked about his prediction last week on SiriusXM Radio. This is what he said:
“I absolutely did say that. I played with Derek Carr, I played with Aaron Rodgers, I played with Brett Favre and I’ve been saying this since day one that Derek Carr is ‘baby A-Rod’ man, I mean the flick of the wrist, him getting the ball out of his hands, him being able to throw every single route in the route tree, him being able to make plays with his legs, being able to throw the ball on the run. I mean, he’s a special talent and a special player.”
Jones is also high on Jon Gruden’s addition of offensive coordinator Greg Olson, which shouldn’t come as a surprise since set a career high for receptions (73) under Olson in 2014.
More recently, Jones was also influential in Jordy Nelson’s decision to sign with the Raiders. According to Jones, this is what he told Nelson as he was considering his free agent options in March:
“I told him in my opinion if there’s anybody that’s a very close second to Aaron Rodgers, it’s the kid you’re about to play with… I’ve been around Derek Carr for a long time. When he was at Fresno State we used to train and throw balls together. At that time I had only played with two quarterbacks and that was Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers and the first time I see this kid throw, I’m like ‘man, I’ve seen these throws before.’”
For what it’s worth, Carr finished third in the league MVP vote in 2016, so he’s already been on the cusp of winning it once.
twitter: @raidersbeat
I loved how James Jones played. He was a TD machine. The Raiders should have kept him longer. The guy was still super productive.
Gruden isn’t going to want Carr to throw enough times to finish with 5,000 yards. I can’t see it happening.
Uh Jones is an NFL veteran that p!ayed with both Favre and Rodgers. And you are….exactly! I’ll go with Jones opinion