Raiders WR Michael Crabtree sees Derek Carr as ‘managing Brett Favre'

These days the term ‘gunslinger' and ‘Brett Favre' seem to go hand-in-hand. Whenever there's a quarterback who takes a lot of chances, they are compared to Brett Favre. Such was the case with Michael Crabtree who said his quarterback Derek Carr has some Favrian qualities of his own. Though it's a quality he is trying to get ahold of.

"I've seen him grow," Crabtree said of Carr. "My first year with him, last year... The guy is amazing. He's got talent. Like I said, we talk all the time on ways to get better on the field and I feel like he has taken that step, taken control of the offense, doing more managing of the game at the end and the beginning. I feel like that gunslinger, he is always going to be a gunslinger and I love that. That's the old Brett Favre-type of quarterback, but really managing Brett Favre. Brett Favre is one of the greatest players to ever play."

Favre was known for his heroics, but he was also known for putting the ball up for grabs a lot. Six times in his career, he has as many or more picks than he had touchdowns in a season.

Carr threw 13 interceptions last season, up from 12 as a rookie. Only four times in his 19-year career as a starter did Favre throw as few as 13 interceptions. He averaged 17.5 interceptions per season.

I'm not entirely sure what Crabtree means by "managing Brett Favre". Calling a player a game manager is not a compliment in this league, and I'm sure that's not what he's saying. A game manager is essentially the opposite of what Brett Favre was. He was an improviser who would take a chance to make a play over ‘living to play another down' 9 times out of 10.

It seems perhaps Crabtree is suggesting Carr is working on striking the balance. Knowing when to take a chance and when to go conservative so as to not hurt the team. Basically the decision every good quarterback must make every time they drop back.

Follow @LeviDamien