Oakland News Now Blog – vlog by Zennie62 YouTube.
Well, after almost three years of treating Jameis Winston like a subhuman, the New Orleans Saints have signed Derek Carr, who was castoff from the once Oakland, now Las Vegas Raiders, by managing general partner Mark Davis. After Taysom Hill and Andy Dalton, the Saints have finally found their Great White Hope QB in Derek Carr, signing to a four-year-contract.
First, I wish Derek Carr well, as he seems to be a good Christian man. Carr was tbe symbol of the Oakland Raiders, and as much as the Las Vegas Raiders signal caller. He gave us Raiders fans many exciting moments, even if he had a tenancy to throw the wrong pass at the wrong time.
Second, the Saints, in the way the organization treated Jameis Winston, sent the message to every black quarterback that “We want you but only if you can throw far or run fast or both. Otherwise, we’ll back any white quarterback we can sign.” Indeed, Saints Defensive End Cam Jordan said as much when he remarked in a tweet that the Saints “prefer a certain type of QB.” We all know that means white, and not black, quarterbacks. Going after Deshawn Watson was merely a ruse – truth is, Saints were never serious about him.
The third I’ll get to in a moment, and because I want to talk about the Derek Carr situation and the Jameis Winston matter. I will take Jameis first, briefly.
Jameis Winston is a record-setting Heisman Trophy-winning National Champion, who set records, but has seen his career tainted by playing one year in a horribly-designed passing offense under Tampa Bay Bucs Head Coach Bruce Arians.
Then, Jameis found himself released by the Bucs only to watch them change their offense to throw short passes, to fit the QB legend Tom Brady’s request. Then, as Winston rode the bench, Brady led the Bucs (defense helped) to the Super Bowl.
That produced the idea that the Bucs were better without Winston, only to have fans watch them fail to return to the Super Bowl the two next years. During that time, in 2021, Jameis Winston had his best year ever under then-Saints Head Coach Sean Payton, only to see it comes to an end 7 games into the NFL Season, after a bounty-style horsecollar tackle by Bucs Linebacker Devin White.
Then, in the 2022 Season, Sean Payton strangely retired while Saints GM Mickey Loomis and the ownership, elected to retain Saints Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen as head coach. Jameis Winston’s 2022 NFL Season looked more promising than what the 2021 Season implied, because the Saints went out and brought in Jarvis Landry, drafted Ohio State wide receiver Chris Olave, and saw the return of the legendary Michael Thomas. The one factor the Saints strangely forgot was to use the same ball control passing offense that Winston flurished in under Sean Payton.
The result was a first game against the Atlanta Falcons that saw Winston bruised and battered, but the Saints recorrected the pass blocking problems and Winston engineered the greatest comeback in Saints history, beating the Falcons on a last minute field goal. Sadly, it was revealed that Winston broke his back during that contest. Still, the Saints started him against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The injury, coupled with the Saints continued use of a mid-range to deep passing game, led to his poor performance and further injury, and a loss. By the time of the Carolina Panthers game, the Saints should have held out Winston but did not. The bad blocking scheme was bested by a terrible offensive play-calling sheet, and Winston was litterally beaten up: broken back, bad hip, sprained foot. All courtesy of the Saints. Then, the Saints went out to get Derek Carr. Will he fair better? My personal feelings aside, no. Note, I like Derek Carr but not the situation.
Derek Carr has a lot of new things to process: new city, new home, new church, new fans, new building, new offense, new lockerroom, new players, new media personalities. He’s never been in this place before. He’s got to settle his wife and kids, too. Plus, he’s as close to a born Raider player as you can get: born in Fresno, played at Fresno State, pegged to start for the Silver and Black when drafted, treated like kid-glove-royalty for years until Mark Davis brought in The Pats Crew of Josh McDaniels and David Zigler. Now, Carr has to adjust to his third regime in three years. That’s a lot on his plate.
Moreover, the biggest problem of all is that Derek Carr doesn’t come with a Tom Brady-like history. In fact, his overall numbers are not overwhelimgly better than Jameis Winston’s (87.5 QBR for Winston versus 91.8 for Carr), and Carr played in a ball control passing offense for his entire career, whereas Jameis did for only one year (2021) of his career. Derek Carr gets an on-paper-better defense to play in, but that assumes he plays well in an offense that’s new to him.
The bet here is that Derek Carr has a rough start before settling in with the Saints.
Stay tuned.
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