With the gut-wrenching reality that legendary quarterback Tom Brady will wear another uniform in 2020, there’s only one player that the New England Patriots should trade for.
Acquiring Derek Carr could be the perfect move.
Here’s why.
hasn’t been the same quarterback since his injury during Week 1 of the 2017 season. His 2017 season was bad and 2018 wasn’t anything special, either.
2019 looked really solid, though. People still have this perception that Carr is average and thus, they write him off. However, he has a lot of talent and did a lot with a little for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Let’s look at the 2019 seasons of Carr and Brady.
First, we’ll look at Brady.
He threw for 4,057 yards and 24 touchdowns (eight interceptions) on a 60.8 completion percentage. The argument that he didn’t have a good supporting cast is definitely valid. Julian Edelman was there, but outside of that, there wasn’t much. Mohamed Sanu came in late, there was no real offensive presence at tight end, and the running backs struggled throughout most of the season … not to mention Phillip Dorsett virtually disappearing from Weeks 4 through 12. Brady was not able to do much.
However, you could make a lot of those same arguments for Carr. While he had a great running back in Josh Jacobs and Darren Waller was an elite-level tight end in 2019, his receivers left a lot to be desired, and he certainly didn’t have an Edelman.
Despite that, Carr had arguably a better year than Brady. He threw for 4,054 yards and 21 touchdowns, compared to eight interceptions. However, he did so on 100 fewer pass attempts, completing 70.4 percent of his passes. In the end, Carr actually played better than Brady did last year. And it’s not like he was doing it with elite weapons.
Carr had struggled with his confidence, and his lack of trust with head coach Jon Gruden didn’t help his case, either. With the Raiders recently signing former Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota this week, Carr arguably does not have much of a future with the franchise.
There is also the fact that he likely wouldn’t be all that expensive. The Raiders might be considering going in a different direction anyway, so dumping his salary would be enough incentive for them to give up Carr without asking for anything crazy in return. Carr has three years and roughly $56 million left of his five-year, $125 million contract. The Patriots have $13 million in cap space and the draft picks to get the deal done.
Finally, Carr is a perfect substitute for Brady. He has shown great accuracy and a strong arm. New England can plug Carr into the offense and compete immediately. Further, he’s only 28 years old (turns 29 in March), so he still has a lot of football left in him.
Carr could become the new franchise quarterback. With Bill Belichick coaching him, perhaps he turns into that star people expected years ago.
