Wednesday’s early-morning top story in the NFL regarding a high-profile AFC quarterback quickly was supplanted by a story regarding a higher-profile AFC quarterback. And while the question of whether Patriots quarterback Tom Brady hid multiple concussions from the league and/or the team isn’t going away soon, the question of whether Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is unhappy with the pace of contract talks lingers, too.
Following the report from NFL Media regarding Carr’s discontent, the player said nothing at all about it on his Twitter page, unless his lone entry since the story broke is an indirect reference to the situation: “Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous . . . people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work!”
Raiders coach Jack Del Rio addressed the issue, sort of, with a tweet of his own. In response to a tweet from a fan that said “someone needs to put a stop to the negative news being created [by] media concerning carrs contract negotiations,” Del Rio said, “Good luck with that.”
It’s technically not a denial of the report and it’s possible there’s nothing to deny. The report came from NFL Media. NFL Media employs the brother of Derek Carr, former NFL quarterback David Carr. Common sense suggests that David Carr either was a source for the report or, at a minimum, someone ran the report by him before NFL Media reported it.
That dynamic could explain the absence of a clear denial from Derek Carr. If/when he does, it creates an intriguing dynamic within the organization that both employs David Carr and that has ramped up the pressure and attention for talks between the Raiders and their young franchise quarterback, who will be making less than $1 million in 2017.