During Jon Gruden’s first press conference after being named the Raiders head coach, he said he was going to demand a lot from quarterback Derek Carr.
Some may question how well that will work on Carr’s end, but the quarterback doesn’t seem to have any concerns about forging a strong relationship with Gruden. Carr said on 95.7 The Game that having demanding coaches is something he’s used to and that “you can say whatever you want to me as long as it helps me get better.”
“I hope he’s really hard on me and I think that he will be,” Carr said, via the East Bay Times. “We’ve had great conversations. I know that he loves me. He tells me multiple times when I’ve talked to him that he loves me. He knows that I love him, but he knows that I love winning and I know that he loves winning. I don’t think that this is gonna be a problem at all and actually it’s not that I think, I know it’s not gonna be a problem at all. We’re gonna have a great relationship. We’re gonna be hard on one another, push each other to be better and that’s how it should be. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m excited.”
The Raiders signed Carr to a contract last June that made it clear that they believe he can bring them the sustained success that went missing after Gruden’s first stint with the team came to an end. The team took a step backward in 2017, which led them to reach back in time for another run with Gruden and his partnership with Carr will be closely watched in their first year together.