Derek Carr made a lot of waves a couple of days ago. The Las Vegas Raiders quarterback started everything with an Instagram post showing him and former teammate Khalil Mack hugging on the field after the Bears-Raiders game in London last season. This inevitably led to rampant speculation the quarterback, who many believe could be available via trade, might be coming to Chicago.
Later his brother David went on NFL Network and stated quite plainly that he feels Carr is merely having fun with people. It’s the offseason and he’s well aware of the rumors. Be that as it may, it’s hardly a secret the Raiders are looking for some sort of escape hatch away from Carr. So if it actually came down to a trade of some kind, what would it actually cost?
Adam Candee, a Raiders insider for ESPN, revealed his thoughts on that with Joe Ostrowski for 670 The Score.
“I don’t think Derek Carr is going to require a 1st round pick. That’s my opinion…It going to take multiple picks but I don’t think it takes a one because of the contract. You got to remember that Derek Carr is still getting paid $25 million a year right now. So some team is going to have to take on a pretty significant cap hit to bring Derek Carr in.
Now does that mean Derek Carr is going to be given away? Absolutely not. But I also think that if Raiders are at the point where they think they have a trade in place and they think they have a realistic option to replace Derek Carr? I don’t Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock are going to let the draft compensation be the issue.”
Bears would likely have competition for Derek Carr
While the idea of Carr coming to Chicago is fun to speculate, the logistics of it don’t entirely line up. Aside from having salary cap concerns, they are light on draft picks as well. Giving up multiple ones, even if they are a 2nd rounder and maybe a future mid rounder? That is still a lot to ask from a team that already coughed up a ton of future picks in deals for Mitch Trubisky, Mack, and Anthony Miller.
Keep in mind that there is no way the Bears would be the only team interested in Carr either. Others see the same benefits of trading for him as they would. A still-young QB on a reasonably cheap deal that has three years left who has thrown for 4,000 yards each of the past two seasons? If the Raiders could get a bidding war going, then the price would go up.
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It just doesn’t feel like Carr is a truly attainable prize for the Bears. They have to be more realistic.
