Derek Carr signed a three-year contract extension with the Las Vegas Raiders this week, and the deal freed up a significant amount of salary-cap space for the team. Carr says that was not a coincidence.
Carr told reporters on Wednesday that he and his agent intentionally structured his extension in a way that would allow the Raiders to re-sign other core players. He said he was bothered by the fact that the team traded Khalil Mack last time Carr signed a new contract.
The Raiders had roughly $5 million in salary-cap space before they extended Carr, according to Over The Cap. Carr’s cap hit will be $34.8 million in the first year of the new deal, which is significantly less than many other quarterbacks around the league.
Carr’s new deal will make him one of the five highest-paid QBs in the NFL. It’s unclear what the exact guarantee is, but it seems like he could have aimed higher. The quarterback market has been extremely hot this offseason, led by the $230 million in fully guaranteed money Watson got from the Cleveland Browns. Carr will make plenty of money, but his contract should not place the Raiders in the dreaded salary-cap jail.
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