Statistically, Derek Carr is coming off one of the worst years of his career. He had more interceptions (14) than in any other season and he saw his passer rating dip from 101.4 to 94 this year.
But if you watched him at any point last season, you know that Carr played some of the best football of his life considering the circumstances around the Raiders.
So where does Carr rank among his peers heading into the season? It appears he is finally starting to get the respect he deserves around the league.
In a recent article by Mike Sando of The Athletic, he spoke to 50 NFL coaches and had them rank the tiers of quarterbacks going into the 2022 season. Not surprisingly, Carr was ranked in Tier 2, alongside quarterbacks such as Dak Prescott, Lamar Jackson and Matthew Stafford.
Carr got a lot of praise from coaches around the league for his competitiveness and intelligence. Here is what one NFL coach had to say about Carr via Sando:
“Just from an intellect standpoint, he always puts them in a good position, he makes a lot of good decisions. But, similar to the Dak Prescott and Matthew Stafford conversation, there is something different in Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Carr is a notch below those guys. He can’t quite overcome it when it’s bad around him.”
Carr has seen his ranking rise in three straight seasons, but he has always remained in Tier 2 or Tier 3 group of quarterbacks. At this stage of his career, it’s unlikely that he will suddenly move out of those tiers and up to Tier 1 alongside Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes.
But as we saw last year with Matthew Stafford and the Rams, you don’t need a Tier 1 quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Carr has proven that he is a quality starting quarterback who can lead his team to the playoffs. Now, it’s time for Carr and the Raiders to start winning some of those playoff games.
