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3 Potential Landing Spots For Derek Carr In 2023

#Derek Carr
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Derek Carr

Getty Image / Gaelen Morse


The Las Vegas Raiders made a shocking move today.

They decided to bench Derek Carr for Week 17 and start Jarrett Stidham at quarterback against the San Francisco 49ers.

That move has many speculating about Carr’s future with the team. It appears the Raiders are ready to move on from Carr and there are a few teams that could be interested in the quarterback for the 2023 season.

Here are 3 teams who could be interested in Carr if the Raiders decide to trade him:

The Longshots

There are a few teams that could potentially be interested in Carr, but don’t seem too likely. The first is the New England Patriots. They’d certainly like an improvement a quarterback, but would likely need a bigger improvement to move on from Mac Jones already and might even be more likely to give Bailey Zappe a shot before shopping for a QB.

Next is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There’s a chance they lose Tom Brady during the offseason and some are already speculating he’ll replace Carr in Las Vegas. If that happens, the Bucs could be in the market for a veteran QB.

It seems more likely that they’d look at this year’s struggles and decide that Carr wouldn’t make them a playoff team in 2023.

The Ravens could also find themselves looking at Derek Carr as an option for next season. There have been reports about them potentially trading Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley hasn’t been very good this season.

If they trade Jackson, they could turn to Carr to try and remain in contention for the playoffs.

Carolina Panthers

The Panthers stand out as a pretty obvious option for Carr. They have had a ton of trouble at quarterback over the past few years. The Baker Mayfield experiment didn’t work out and they might not have a high enough draft pick to get take a top QB in April.

With the state of the NFC South right now, they could believe that Carr would get them into the playoffs. They aren’t far off right now and that’s with Sam Darnold starting and Brady still in the division.

The big question mark for the Panthers is Matt Corral. There were high expectations for Corral before his knee injury caused his draft stock to plummet. Then another injury cost him his rookie season.

The Panthers could decide to give Corral a shot next season with a cheaper veteran around to start the year and then back him up in case it doesn’t work out.

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They’re certainly an option, but might not be Carr’s best chance to find a new team in 2023.

New York Jets

There are few teams in the NFL that need help at quarterback like the New York Jets. Zach Wilson has been a disaster in his second season and the Jets offense was seemingly better with Chris Streveler last week than it was with Wilson.

Mike White probably isn’t the answer for the New York Jets, so we can expect to see them pursue a quarterback this offseason.

There’s just one thing standing in the way of Carr heading to East Rutherford. That one thing is Jimmy Garoppolo.

The Jets are almost certain to make a push to sign Garoppolo this offseason and he seems like a better fit for the team. He is familiar with the head coach as Robert Saleh worked for the 49ers before the Jets. He’ll likely be much cheaper than Carr. He has shown in the past that he can succeed with a team that wants to run a lot and win with their defense.

If the New York Jets don’t land Garoppolo, Carr would definitely be an upgrade over Wilson and he could be a QB that gets them into the playoffs with all of the talent currently assembled on that team. He just likely won’t be their first choice this offseason.

Indianapolis Colts

If the Indianapolis Colts can make the money work, they’d probably be the team that makes the most sense for Carr. While Carr’s stock might not be at its highest right now, he’d certainly be better than Matt Ryan and Carson Wentz were for the Colts.

The Indianapolis Colts have plenty of strong pieces on their team. They have a solid defense even if recent losses to the Cowboys and Vikings haven’t shown it. They have one of the league’s best running backs. Michael Pittman, Alec Pierce, and the team’s tight ends would give Carr dependable targets.

They also have a very expensive offensive line that they’ll be expecting to perform better in 2023.

Money is obviously the issue here. The Colts have a ton of cap space tied up in Matt Ryan right now and he’ll carry a dead cap hit of $18 million if they cut him.

The Indianapolis Colts could go into the offseason believing that adding Derek Carr and whatever pieces they get in the draft will be enough for them to compete for the division crown in a terrible AFC South.

It might be worth a shot for them to find out next season. It certainly can’t go worse than this year.