Going back as far as high school, Derek Carr has sported the number 4 on his jersey. He kept that number in college at Fresno State and in the pros when he was drafted by the Raiders. His love for the number stems from his lover for Brett Favre.
Favre is known as the ultimate gunslinger and that’s how Derek Carr saw himself. Or at least that’s what he aspired to be. That’s not really been who he has become in the NFL, however. Quite the opposite as it happens.
Rotoworld wanted to see if they could come up with a formula that showed which quarterbacks could claim themselves to be. gunslingers. To do this, Ian Hartitz used five metrics: Average target depth, deep-ball rate, aggressiveness rate, non-throwaway rate, and combined money throws and danger plays.
They emphasize that being among the tops in these stats isn’t necessarily a judge of how good a quarterback is. Jameis Winston landing at number two is evidence of that. But Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott making the top five tells you that sometimes it can be a good thing.
Whether it’s a positive or not, it’s what Derek Carr espouses as his mentality. Also, see “Mamba Mentality” as Kobe Bryant was one of his sports heroes as well.
But sifting through the gunslingers, the honorable mentions, and even the ‘best of the rest’, Carr’s name doesn’t show up.
Where Carr shows up is at the very bottom. Among full time starting QB’s last season, Carr is dead last (38th).
That means a lot of check downs, few deep shots, few passes into tight windows, a lot of balls thrown away, few difficult throws in clutch moments, and few high-risk plays.
For what it’s worth, some notable QBs outside the top 20 include his newly signed competition, Marcus Mariota, at 37, Tom Brady at 33, and both of this year’s Super Bowl QB’s Jimmy Garappolo at 28 and Patrick Mahomes at 25.
