Jon Gruden indicated last month that he is comfortable moving forward with Derek Carr as his starting quarterback, but that does not necessarily mean the Oakland Raiders are opposed to drafting his potential successor early on.
Armed with three first-round draft picks, the Raiders will have a great shot at drafting one of the top QBs available. Peter King of The MMQB wrote on Monday that there is “lots of suspicion” around the league that Gruden and new general manager Mike Mayock could do just that. However, that does not necessarily mean Carr would be in danger of losing his starting job in 2019.
“As one personnel guy told me, the Kansas City model of having a young guy learn under a willing veteran as Patrick Mahomes had with Alex Smith could be tempting,” King wrote. “Now Smith is a special case; he’s generous to a fault. Not sure Carr would be that willing to help a young kid take his job.”
Carr struggled in his first season under Gruden. He threw for over 4,000 yards, but he had just 19 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. He didn’t take the types of strides many expected him to with a supposed QB guru taking over the team.
Gruden has been known to say one thing and do another in the past, so it means virtually nothing that he threw his support behind Carr toward the end of the season. If there’s a quarterback both he and Mayock are high on in the draft, it seems unlikely that the Carr situation will deter them from drafting that player.
