It wouldn’t be an offseason without some annual debate regarding Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr. What’s the latest chatter about? Well, this time, it appears that Carr is getting praise at the cost of the new Denver Broncos signal-caller Russell Wilson.
Carr has heavy expectations going into this season. Much of that has been brought on by the fact that the Raiders went all in and acquired All-Pro Davante Adams. Are these expectations fair? It depends on who you talk to. At least from a statistical perspective, Carr is arguably the best quarterback in franchise history. However, after getting the Raiders over the hump last season and into the postseason, anything short of a deep playoff run will likely be a disappointment. As for the Broncos, they’ve managed to field notable defenses the last few seasons but have severely lacked good quarterback play. To deal with this, the Broncos went all in this offseason too by landing Wilson.
Is Derek Carr better than Russell Wilson?
A former teammate of Carr’s, Maurice Jones-Drew, had a recent quote by him go viral via the NFL Total Access Twitter account. He stated point blank, “I believe Derek Carr is a better quarterback than Russell Wilson.”
The former NFL running back has caused quite a reaction on social media. Many fans feel that this assessment is accurate. That is especially true when you consider that Carr is in an excellent position to make a deep run this year. However, the counterpoint to this is that Wilson is a proven winner. He’s gone to back-to-back Super Bowls, winning one, and it could be argued that he’s one of the most clutch quarterbacks in NFL history. At the same time, you could also make the point that at this point in their careers, Carr is the better player just based on age and a belief that Wilson’s skills are declining. Though there are several reasons for this, Wilson did see a drop-off in several key stats from 2020 to last season, including completions and touchdowns.
Regardless of which side of the spectrum you land on, both quarterbacks are now in the same division. That means that maybe we’ll start to get some answers to this long-standing debate.
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*Top Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
