From Michael Colitti (@ColittiMichael):
From John Richardson (@JohnIsaac55):
Michael, what I make of it is the Raiders have a major decision to make three days after the Super Bowl (Feb. 15, if you’re setting your calendar alerts) on their quarterback. If Carr is on the roster on that date, his entire $32.9 million base salary for 2023, and $7.5 million of his base salary for ’24 will vest as fully guaranteed. And you won’t let that money vest unless you feel sure that Carr will be your starter eight months later.
… Unless, as John points out, you negotiate a trade first, which would be complicated. Yes, the Raiders could work out a trade well ahead of the beginning of the league year in March—like the Lions did with Matthew Stafford (January 2021) and the Eagles did with Carson Wentz (February ’21) two offseasons ago. But they’d have to have a trusting relationship with the other team involved to ensure that it wouldn’t pull out of a deal and that Carr is on board with the idea.
And if Carr is traded or released? The two obvious options for the Raiders would be Jimmy Garoppolo and Tom Brady. The former could essentially take Carr’s place as a sort of long-term bridge quarterback (I’ve used the Alex Smith–in–Kansas City example before, and Kirk Cousins under Kevin O’Connell is another). The latter would be one heck of a leap of faith in the state of a roster that didn’t perform as well as team brass thought it would this year.
That said, the idea that Garoppolo or Brady could land in Vegas is very much on my radar.
