Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) looks for a receiver during the first half of a game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Allegiant Stadium Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020.
Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020 | 2 a.m.
The Raiders may not give the Dolphins the luxury of knowing which quarterback they’ll face Saturday evening at Allegiant Stadium.
Las Vegas starter Derek Carr, who hurt his groin early in a 30-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers last Thursday, returned to practice Tuesday but only in a limited capacity. It’s expected that Carr will retain his role and take over for backup Marcus Mariota if he’s healthy enough to play, but that’s no guarantee.
“Both he and Marcus took turns at quarterback,” coach Jon Gruden said of Tuesday’s practice. “We’ll see how it goes this week.”
That wasn’t much of an update compared to last Friday when Gruden described Carr as “50/50” to play. With reports of Carr being back at practice and scheduled to make his weekly news conference on Tuesday morning, some expected him to say he was ready to play.
That didn’t happen, though Carr did make it sound like he would push to get back on the field to lead the 7-7 Raiders to their first winning season since Gruden returned to the sidelines in 2018.
“The first thing (Gruden) told me when he met me is, ‘You have to be available,’ and I said, ‘Yes sir,’” Carrrecounted. “I’ve done everything in my power to make myself available this week and I’m going to continue to do my best to do that because I told him and promised him I’d do that.”
Carr has not missed a start since Gruden took over and has been durable going back even longer. He missed two games in 2016 — including the Raiders’ last playoff appearance — and one in 2017, but otherwise, has always been behind center since his rookie season in 2014.
“He’s one of the premiere competitors in the league and it’s important to him,” Gruden said. “We’re emphasizing the word ‘finish’ and he wants to finish the job, no doubt. But we’re going to be smart. We’ve got a good training staff here. We listen to our players. We’ll do what we think is right for Derek and for our team. I do admire his toughness and his want to compete.”
Carr has taken all the snaps with the first-team offense all season, so it was a new phenomenon on Tuesday when he and Mariota rotated in and out. Carr and Mariota have maintained a healthy relationship all season.
Mariota said Carr was his biggest supporter in the Chargers’ game. Carr returned to the sidelines in street clothes after being evaluated in the locker room and cheered on Mariota, whom he continued to praise on Tuesday.
“I didn’t want to get hurt for it to happen, but I was happy to see him play and have success if I’m being honest,” Carr said. “Because I knew he had a long year with certain things that happened in Tennessee and with injuries and all that kind of stuff. I saw it in his face every day. He just kept grinding.”
Las Vegas may announce the Week 16 starter in the coming days, but there’s added benefit to staying tightlipped and not allowing Miami any knowledge, especially in this case. The Raiders’ offense under Carr looks drastically different than it does under Mariota given their conflicting skillsets.
Mariota is more of a rushing threat, though he lacks Carr’s arm strength. The Raiders run an updated version of the classic West Coast offense under the latter but tweak it to incorporate more modern run-pass options with the former.
Las Vegas crammed some option looks into its playbook midgame when Mariota was forced into action against Los Angeles but would now have more time to refine them going into the Miami game. Carr thought the two’s conflicting styles paid off against the Chargers.
“I think it was perfect too because you play against a team, my skillset is different that Marcus’ skillset, so they’re preparing for me and all those kinds of things and then he comes out,” Carr said. “Now we have some zone-read type different things, he’s running with the football, they don’t have time to prepare for that. They have to make adjustments on the fly.”
Although they’ve been all but eliminated from playoff contention, the Raiders’ last two games could go a long way in influencing offseason personnel decisions — including at quarterback. There have been no outward indications the team wants to move on from Carr, but for the first time, they could do so without much penalty even without a trade partner. Moving into the penultimate season of his current six-year deal, cutting Carr would result in relatively minimal $2.5 million cap hit.
There’s no reason for the franchise to do so, however, especially considering Carr is having the best year of his career by multiple metrics. But some fans believe going forward with Mariota is a better option, a route that could conceivably gain more steam if he continues to impress.
It would cost the Raiders $10.7 million to keep Mariota next year — about $1.5 million more than he’s making this year and an excessively high figure for a backup quarterback. Mariota may need to show more than last week’s strong one-off performance to prove worth it.
If it’s up to Carr, despite how much he’s enjoyed having Mariota around, his backup won’t have the chance.
“If I think I can play, I’m capable of playing,” Carr said. “I think the best part of my game is my mind and that’s still working so I think the coaches and our trainers will make the right decision. I’ve been in here every day that we’ve been allowed to get treatment and doing all my tests and I want everybody watching so they know I’m telling them exactly how I feel. So we’ll see how it goes but if it’s up to me, I’m going to do everything I can to be on that field.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
