The Raiders finished 8-8 in 2020, their first time reaching .500 since going 12-4 in 2016.
In his third season under head coach Jon Gruden, quarterback Derek Carr had one of the best years of his career — completing 67.3 percent of his passes for 27 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He registered a new career-high in passer rating at 101.4.
As such, General Manager Mike Mayock seemed pleased with Carr in an interview with Vinny Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday.
“I think the most important point is that Derek did have an exceptional year,” Mayock said. “I think he’s gotten better each year with Jon, which is kind of exciting to us internally.”
Carr, however, does not have any more guaranteed money on his contract, which runs through 2022. Mayock declined to say whether he’s engaged with Carr’s representation on a potential extension. But he did add, “I think we’re always interested in keeping good players for as long as we can.”
The lack of guarantees also means the Raiders could explore upgrading at QB. Mayock’s answer was similar to what he said last year, in that he and head coach Jon Gruden will always do their due diligence.
“I think Jon and I come from the same school on that,” Mayock said. “You want to know, at any position, which players might be available via trade. Just like you do in free agency. … And you’re always trying to upgrade. I just think it’s incumbent upon every organization to do that at every position.”
But after what Carr displayed in 2020, the Raiders would likely be better served spending their time and resources upgrading their defense.