The Las Vegas Raiders released Derek Carr on Tuesday after the veteran quarterback declined to waive his no-trade clause and just before more than $40 million of his contract would have become guaranteed.
As such, Carr, who said in 2021 he would “probably” retire rather than play for a team other than the Raiders, hits the open market a month before the start of the NFL’s new league year, on March 15. And the Raiders, who have only one quarterback under contract in Chase Garbers, are searching for a fulltime starter at QB for the first time since Carr won the job as a rookie in 2014.
Only one team was interested in a trade for Carr and that team wanted him to take a pay cut. Carr, who turns 32 on March 28, visited with the New Orleans Saints last week.
Had Carr been on Las Vegas’ roster Wednesday, his full $32.9 million salary for 2023 would have become guaranteed, as would $7.5 million of his $41.9 million salary for 2024. So, by cutting him, the Raiders are off the hook for $40.4 million while taking a $5.6 million salary cap hit and freeing up $29.3 million in salary cap space.
Carr played for six different head coaches in nine seasons with the Raiders — Dennis Allen, Tony Sparano, Jack Del Rio, Jon Gruden, Rich Bisaccia and Josh McDaniels. He had five different offensive playcallers — Greg Olson, Bill Musgrave, Todd Downing, Gruden, Olson again and Josh McDaniels – and had a bottom-feeding defense for most of his tenure.
Carr went 63-79 and took two teams to the playoffs without a win, though he missed the 2016 wild-card round game at Houston after breaking his right ankle in the season’s next-to-last game.
Carr won the job in training camp his first year, overtaking veteran Matt Schaub, and set virtually every passing record in Raiders franchise history, including 35,222 passing yards and 217 TD passes.