Even a below average year for Derek Carr would make him Raiders all time leader, a great season would do much more

Don’t look now, but this season Derek Carr will very likely move into the Raiders record books. The primary record he is closing in on is career completions and even if he had another ‘down’ season like last year, he would set that mark.

Right now he is sitting at 1378 career completions. That puts him third all time among Raiders quarterbacks behind Rich Gannon and Ken Stabler. Gannon is the Raiders all-time leader in completions with 1533 with Stabler next with 1486.

That means Carr is just 156 completions from taking over as the Raiders all time leader in completions. Carr hovered around 350 completions in each of his first three seasons. Last season was his lowest total at 323. So, barring an injury, he would figure to take over as the team’s all-time leader in completions by midseason.

That mark is impressive, though it should be looked at in context. Stabler played in a completely different era and Gannon joined the team at the tail end of his career, appearing in just 74 games for the Raiders before retiring at the age of 39. Carr has already started 62 games in four seasons.

The completions record isn’t the only one in reach for Carr this season. Although the other one would require that he have by far his best season as a pro to get it this season.

It’s career passing yards.

Carr is sitting at 14,690 career passing yards, which puts him fourth behind Stabler (19,078), Gannon (17,585), and Daryl Lamonica (16,655).

In order to surpass Stabler’s Raiders record 19,078 career Raiders passing yards this season, Carr would need to pass for 4,388 yards. Carr has yet to pass for over 4K yards in a season in his career and he’d need to far surpass it this season to reach Stabler.

It’s not impossible, certainly; especially with some of the expectations of him in Jon Gruden’s offense. And if he doesn’t reach it this season, he would very likely reach it early in the 2019 season — his 6th in the NFL. Stabler put up his numbers over 7 seasons as the Raiders starting quarterback. And, again, different era.

Regardless of eras or career trajectory, Carr figures to cement his place in Raiders history this season. The biggest milestone, however, will be if he can lead the team back to the playoffs as the three legends he will surpass did in their time with the Raiders.