The quarterback market appears to be very active this offseason. There could be a lot of players changing teams, although the New Orleans Saints already secured their signal-caller. Their choice was former Las Vegas Raiders passer Derek Carr.
The first player at this position to swap franchises was going to be him. Carr had a clause in his contract that forced the Raiders to make a decision before February 15. In the end, they released the quarterback after he said he was going to decline any trade offer.
Carr was then an unrestricted free agent that could sign anywhere. He had several visits with teams including the New York Jets, but he opted for New Orleans. The expectation from the front office is to always win despite their frequent cap issues, so his message was a bit shocking.
Derek Carr sends strange message to the New Orleans Saints
In his introductory press conference on Saturday, Carr made sure he thanked everybody. From Drew Brees to Peyton Manning and Michael Thomas, a lot of people received praise. He also didn’t forget about his former franchise, although his most surprising statement was directed to his new team. Here is the promise he made in his speech, according to John Hendrix of Sports Illustrated.
“The city has been unbelievable to my family so far. We’ve literally been just blown away. And hopefully we can win for them and make more fun times. I can’t promise wins, but I can promise you a great effort. So I’m excited to go out there and compete as hard as I can with my teammates and hopefully give ’em what they want”.
Derek Carr talks about the Raiders
The whole nine-year career that Carr had so far was playing for the Raiders. He was drafted when they were in Oakland, but he remained there when they moved to Las Vegas. So it was expected he was going to mention them in his introductory press conference.
“I have to say thank you to the Raiders. To Oakland and Las Vegas. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t say thank you to them. I had nine great years there and a lot of good memories. A lot of hard times, a lot of fun times. Mr. Davis and the Raiders organization, thank you. If they see this I have to say thank you to them. I wouldn’t be here without them”, he said per Cameron Salerno of 247sports.