The Raiders might not be getting Tom Brady, but does that mean Derek Carr is 100% going to be Jon Gruden’s starting quarterback next year?
Maybe not, says The Athletic’s Vic Tafur.
“There are a few options [if Brady doesn’t go to the Raiders],” Tafur wrote for The Athletic on Saturday. “The only one that I would think would impact Carr moving into his Vegas home would be if Brady went to the Titans and Ryan Tannehill became availableI believe Jon Gruden would think long and hard about making that switch, as he was very impressed with Tannehill’s decision making and toughness last season. Otherwise, the Raiders would be interested in bringing in a veteran like Marcus Mariota or Case Keenum to back up Carr and push him a little bit.”
Obviously, Tafur is saying the Tannehill idea is only his opinion, but after the report on Friday that the Raiders are interested in Marcus Mariota, it seemed like Tafur was looking to the official scorer to give him a little more than a hockey assist for ‘his opinion’ on Mariota and the Raiders two weeks ago.
So let’s give Tafur credit for this one… and his report that the Raiders like Jalen Hurts, too.
One thing that we do know is that if the Raiders are committed to Carr, they sure seem determined to keep it out of public view. Regardless of how Mike Mayock says he feels about all the quarterback speculation, the Raiders have brought on the storylines with their weak support of Carr when given the opportunity.
But even if Tannehill was considered by the Raiders an even swap for Carr, would it be wise to start over in Gruden’s complex offense with a quarterback three years older than Carr?
Also, Tannehill is reportedly looking for around $30 million a year with his next deal. No question, he had a good run in 2019, but it’s also a fact that Derrick Henry made Tannehill a lot of money over the last six months.
For what it’s worth, here are Tannehill’s numbers in 98 career starts:
145 TD, 81 INT, 63.5% completion, 89.8 QB rating.
And Carr’s numbers in 94 career starts:
143 TD, 62 INT, 64.0% completion, 90.7 QB rating.
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