Rumor states Raiders shopping Derek Carr at NFL Combine

For weeks now leading up to the NFL Combine, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and GM Mike Mayock have been singing quarterback Derek Carr’s praises, talking about how he’s the franchise quarterback and hard to replace. But they’ve also said they will explore every possible avenue to improve the Oakland Raiders, and they should. That’s their job. But will it cost them Carr to do that?

The Combine is the largest gathering of every team and front office executive in the NFL every year, and people are sure to talk. A reporter from Bleacher Report tweeted this out, just this evening.

This doesn’t mean necessarily that the Raiders were offering Carr to any team who would take him off their hands, but it may mean that teams were approaching Mayock and seeing what it would take to acquire Carr. If Mayock said anything other than “take a hike”, that could be interpreted as “Shopping”.

The story was picked up by ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio, who had this to say:

“...it’s not currently believed that the Raiders have serious interest in trading Carr.

As one source with knowledge of the situation remarked in response to the report, the Raiders had better have a quarterback in place before shopping the one they have. It’s also believed that coach Jon Gruden “loves” Carr.”

Right this moment, it doesn’t seem likely the Raiders will move Carr, but then eight months ago it didn’t look likely that they would move Khalil Mack either, until the very day that they did. There are plenty of teams- Giants, Jaguars, Dolphins, Indigenous Persons- who would love to have a quarterback of Carr’s caliber and would likely pay handsomely to get him.

Would the Raiders take a mega-deal to get Carr out of town and then perhaps sign a free agent QB as well as draft a rookie signal-caller for the future? We know of one diminutive Heisman-winning quarterback Jon Gruden seems agog for, so it’s not totally unreasonable to think this might happen. In any case, the weeks leading up to draft night just got even more interesting.