Credit where credit is due. There have been a few team insiders that have accurately reported on the Derek Carr narratives over the last year. One of them is Sports Illustrated’s Hondo Carpenter and he had a friendly message this week for his critics.
“I moved here in June to cover this team. And when I moved here everyone was talking about the alleged dissention between Carr and Gruden and I was the first to report that it was balderdash,” Carpenter said this week on the Pritch and Clay Morning Show.
“It’s not true and I knew it wasn’t true so I said it wasn’t true. Man, did I take tons of criticism. As the year went on they said ‘You’re just a Carr apologist, you’re going to look stupid when they trade him’ and when the Deshaun Watson news came out ‘Oh, you’re going to look dumb.’”
As for the “Carr Haters” who have been harassing him over the last year, Hondo compared them to Kyrie Irving – but not as basketball players.
“This is everything I have been telling everyone,” Carpenter continued. “Now here’s the deal, the Carr haters, they are going to be like ‘Oh yeah, they’re just saying that because they’re going to trade him.’ Ok, I can’t do anything [about that], just like there are people who believe there is a flat earth. I can’t do anything about it.”
Technically, Carr hasn’t yet survived the 2021 offseason, but based on Mike Mayock’s comments this week it doesn’t sound like Carr will have to put his Las Vegas home on the market anytime soon.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Never believed they were trading Carr and you keep doing you Hondo. Some people don’t know how to be objective and will do everything they can to shove a narrative down people’s throats.
Great reporting, keep it up bro.
Why Carr is the target of so much negative attention is a mystery. Amazing, because for the last three years many “insiders” and NFL guru writers have pounded on Carr and proclaimed that Gruden would trade him, and they are wrong every year. Those guys need to have their heads examined to see what causes such dysfunction.
Why would we want to trade a qb that has spent 3 years learning a really complicated system and improving in it every year. All of his teammates love him and respect him as a leader they believe can take em all the way. A guy who grew up as a fan of the team and wants nothing more than to win and eventually retire with this team. And every day I read supposed RAIDERS fans wanting to give up countless draft picks to go after dudes who demand trades from their teams . I believe it’s a millennial thing with this new generation of fans. It’s a millennial thing to tell an owner that if he doesn’t get to choose the new coach or gm that he wants a trade.i can’t believe they would get away with that b.s. 20 years ago with owners like al Davis….its a crying shame….F Deshaun Watson and F Russell Wilson…..go carr …go RAIDERS
RIGHT?! They want to trade Carr for a guy who they say is “much” better along with multiple 1st round picks. I don’t know about you, but what did Watson do with a bad team in 2020? Oh yeah, he won “4 ” games! Sorry, but as I’ve said about Carr, it’s being on a bad team that limits your wins. Watson is an “ELITE” QB and even he couldn’t win with a bad team. So why mortgage the team’s future if the result will be the same, but more costly? It doesn’t make sense…
Great comment! Very good point about 4 wins with a bad team.
If the defense held up their side of the ball the past 3 seasons the Raiders would’ve been in the Playoffs and who knows what would’ve happened. They were the only team the full-strength Chiefs in the regular season and easy sky could’ve beat them twice. Carr arguably played better than Mahomes in both of those games as well. They best the Chiefs and the Browns who looked pretty good most of the season as well. The reason for the Carr hate is those who only look at wins verses loses and attribute wins to the QB. This is simply misguided. Had the defense held up their side of the ball the narrative on Carr the past 2 seasons would be entirely different. People keep saying his “magical year” was 2016 when they went 12-4 and he was an MVP candidate. The truth is he played better last season, but because the wins didn’t follow he got very little recognition because the wins were there and they missed the Playoffs. People who think Carr is the issue with the Raiders aren’t paying attention or don’t understand the game, or both…
There are just a few true sports reporters around, most don’t have any contacts inside the team, they get their inside info. from betting sites. I’m still not sure how an article that favors Carr ended up on the raidersbeat.com this group of so called Raider sites is one of the worst. If Carr tripped over his dog these fools would run a report that Carr kicked his dog. Raidersbeat.com will post anything
Darn straight,he’s the reason they at least won as many as they did. Those that can’t see that should maybe follow more closely Hondo,although you can lead a horse etc etc GO RAIDERS!
I write it off to a lot of young Raider fans. They don’t remember the futile years we spent trying to find a decent QB after Gannon left, and they’re tired of seeing the Raiders lose. Gruden and Carr are the easy targets. Had one kid coming at me about why we didn’t sign Brady last year. Had to tell him that Brady’s never played with a bad defense, he won’t ever play with a bad defense, and part of the reason he went to Tampa Bay was their defense. Had another kind tell me we’ll never win a SB with Carr. I asked him if he though Carr is worse than Trent Dilfer, as he won a SB with the Ravens. He told me “that’s different, they had a dominant defense”. I told him “Exactly!” So stop focusing on the QB, as that’s not the weak spot on our team…
I am OG raiders fan and Carr is a great guy and very likeable. That said is not the end of the story. I want him to succeed, but he just does not have that winner mentality. After his injury to his leg he started dancing and won’t take the hit. His release is too quick and does not wait till the last minute to throw. Go watch some Stabler videos if you want to see what I mean. I would have loved to see Goff or Wentz take the reigns and see what happened. Carr needs to get over the happy feet syndrome and play like a Raider not like Carson Palmer.