The Las Vegas Raiders have once again missed out on the NFL playoffs under head coach Jon Gruden. The question is, what should he do about the quarterback position? Particularly, should Marcus Mariota get the starting nod?
The team is coming off the heels of one of the most devastating losses in its recent history. It’s fair to wonder if Derek Carr should sit out the final game. The Silver and Black will be facing the Denver Broncos in essentially a meaningless game in Week 17.
Against the Miami Dolphins, Carr didn’t have his best game but he didn’t exactly keep the team from losing. His stat sheet was solid and went 21-of-34 passes for 336 yards and one touchdown.
However, the offense looked predictable, the conservative playcalling doesn’t help obviously. On top of the red zone struggles in the latter part of the season, the decision to continuously settle for field goals is highly dubious. As for ‘4’, if he’s indeed your starting quarterback moving forward, why risk a more serious injury? Also, the Raiders’ offense take on a whole new dimension when Mariota came in lieu of Carr against the Los Angeles Chargers.
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What should the Raiders do at quarterback?
Gruden’s priority regarding the quarterback position should be seeing what he really has in Mariota. With a full week of practice and the opposing Broncos defense preparing for Mariota, Gruden would see if ‘8’ could vie for the starting job in 2021. Let’s face it, Gruden has stuck with Carr this far, so it’d be unlikely for him to pull the plug.
Addition by subtraction is a real thing.
Mediocre Carr has a 100 million contract while the defense is in shambles.
Subtract his contract and dispense the money to the defense who desperately needs help while you develop a QB while having a stopgap like Mariota in place.
— 🅲🅹🅴_🅽🅵🅻 (@CJE_NFL) December 26, 2020
The Raiders could also sit Carr and see if Mariota can be the starter next year. However, this is highly unlikely. Then again, Gruden was more aggressive once Mariota came in that Chargers game, perhaps the head coach sees something in ‘8’ as well.
It will be interesting how practice goes for the Raiders this week, no doubt the Mariota question will come up leading to this game once again.
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*Top Photo: Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun
