According to Jeremy Fowler , the Las Vegas Raiders will explore a potential trade market for QB Derek Carr this offseason.
Fowler says that’s the reason Las Vegas benched Carr, as it will prevent him from getting injured and complicating things. He’s due a little over $40 million in guarantees on the third day after the Super Bowl, and those are also guaranteed for injury.
The Raiders can cut Carr with relatively little dead money if no trade partner emerges, and it’s worth pointing out a trade can only be agreed to in principle until the start of the new league year in March. Las Vegas would need to feel confident another team wouldn’t back out and leave them holding the check.
Carr also has a no-trade clause, so he would need to approve any deal and could force the Raiders to release him to free agency if he wanted to.
Fowler notes a return to the Raiders isn’t out of the question for Carr but it looks increasingly unlikely. Stranger things have happened, though, and Carr has said in the past he would retire before playing somewhere else.
Carr, 31, is a former second-round pick of the Raiders back in 2014. He was in the final year of his contract when the Raiders signed him to a five-year, $125 million extension that included $70 million guaranteed in 2017.
Carr stood to make a base salary of $19.77 million in the final year of his contract and was set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2023 when he signed a three-year, $121.5 million extension.
In 2022, Carr appeared in 15 games for the Raiders and completed 60.8 percent of his passes for 3,522 yards, 24 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He also rushed for 102 yards.
We’ll have more on the Raiders and Carr as the news is available.
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