Raiders expected to retain QB Derek Carr for 2021 NFL season?

NFL insider Adam Schefter reported on ESPN "Sunday NFL Countdown" (h/t Bleacher Report):

"There’s no intention that they are willing to move off of Derek Carr at this point in time. Now, Jon Gruden is always looking at quarterbacks and they also have Marcus Mariota under a two-year contract, but Carr played well this year and you have to figure they’d like to stick with him going into next year. No intention to move off him at this time."

Despite teamwide struggles for the 7-8 Raiders, Carr continues to play excellent football. Through 15 games, the veteran quarterback is completing 67.6 percent of his passes for 3,732 yards with 25 touchdowns against just seven picks. He’s also leading a Raiders offense that’s averaging nearly 27 points per game.

The larger issue for these Raiders has been on defense. They fired coordinator Paul Guenther and are giving up an absurd 30 points per game. Obviously, Carr doesn’t deserve the blame on that front.

Carr, 29, has two more seasons remaining on the five-year, $125 million extension he inked with the Raiders back in June 2017. The team would save nearly $20 million against the cap in 2021 should it look to release or trade Carr. At this point, that seems highly unlikely.

However, we will be hearing some Raiders rumors as it relates to backup quarterback Marcus Mariota. The former No. 2 overall pick of the Tennessee Titans inked a two-year, $17.6 million deal with Las Vegas last spring. The team would save $10.73 million against the cap without a dead-cap hit if it were to move off Mariota.

If that is indeed the case, the expectation is that Gruden and Co. will look for more veteran competition for Carr during the offseason. There’s not a limited number of potential free agents with previous starting experience.

As talk picks up regarding quarterback situations around the NFL over the next few months, it seems like the Raiders have settled in with Carr at least for the 2021 season.

Given that he’s averaging nearly 3,900 yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions since the start of the 2015 campaign, that’s probably not a bad thing.

In no way does this mean the Raiders’ quarterback room will remain unchanged in 2021. If nothing else, we know that an old-school  Gruden wants to create competition up and down the roster. That could include bringing in a veteran to compete with the Raiders’ current starter.