The Las Vegas Raiders officially made Derek Carr available for other teams. Should the Indianapolis Colts try acquiring the veteran?
On Thursday, it was reported the Las Vegas Raiders would be looking for a trade partner for veteran quarterback Derek Carr. Many expected this day to come when Vegas benched Carr with two games left, even though the team denied the benching was not reflective of his future with the franchise. However, as everyone assumed, it was, now the Raiders are trying to help the quarterback find his next team. Obviously, the Indianapolis Colts are a team whose name will come up as a possible destination.
Why wouldn’t the Colts’ name come up? Indianapolis has become the team that grants veteran quarterbacks second chances. From Philip Rivers to Carson Wentz, to Matt Ryan, no one would be faulted for assuming that Derek Carr is next. Indy still doesn’t have an answer at quarterback and Carr has three years remaining on his contract. So should the Colts be calling the Las Vegas Raiders?
Absolutely not. Indianapolis should not be interested in trading for Derek Carr for a couple of reasons. Considering Carr’s contract and Indy’s standing in the 2023 NFL Draft, don’t expect Derek Carr to be the next veteran quarterback that Indianapolis gives another chance to.
If a team were to trade for Derek Carr, here is what it would owe him on his current deal:
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 12, 2023
2023: $32.9M base salary + $100K workout bonus = $33M cap hit
2024: $41.9M base salary + $100K workout bonus = $42M cap hit
2025: $41.2M base salary + $100K workout bonus = $41.3M cap hit
The Colts will not be interested in Derek Carr
For starters, and the most important thing, Indianapolis has the fourth-overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. At No. 4, the Colts are in a position to draft a top quarterback, and they could even trade up to No. 1 to get the specific prospect they want. Indianapolis has done the veteran thing the last three seasons and it hasn’t worked out too well. Regardless of if the team thinks it will work with Carr or not, gambling on a rookie gives Indy the best chance at long-term stability.
Aside from that, trading for Carr and taking on his massive contract makes very little sense since the Raiders will be forced to ultimately release him. Las Vegas negotiated Carr’s extension in a way that gives the team an easy out this offseason. If Carr is cut before February 15, his cap hit for the Raiders will be under six million dollars, so it’s not like Carr has to be traded. Knowing that a release is inevitable, it doesn’t make sense for a franchise to trade for him when they would have to commit to so much money.
Now, whether or not the Colts will look into signing Carr after he’s released is a different story. Indianapolis should be wise enough not to trade for him but the team may not be able to help itself once Carr is a free agent. The Colts should definitely be going all in on a rookie but it wouldn’t be that surprising if they wanted to bring in a veteran like Carr and a rookie and use Carr as some type of backup plan or a bridge quarterback.
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