Raiders’ Derek Carr shouldn’t sweat Tom Brady chatter

National Football League

August 25

By Martin Rogers

FOX Sports Columnist

What happens in Las Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas, and sometimes the juiciest secrets come out when you least expect them.

That famed NFL news-breaking source – the “UFC 278 with the Gronks” simulcast – last weekend brought the emergence of the extraordinary tale of how Dana White thought he had Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski locked down to join the Raiders, before then-head coach Jon Gruden apparently nixed the whole thing.

Assuming there is actually quite a bit of truth to this — UFC boss White is a gnarled promoter and perhaps an embellisher, but hardly an out-and-out liar — there is a heck of a lot to get stuck into.

One of the favored strands this week has revolved around current Raiders QB Derek Carr, and where this leaves his present status and situation as the team’s ninth-year signal caller.

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Many suggest that the revelation of how the team was keen to bring Brady in as his replacement adds pressure to Carr. Others have reveled in the theory that Brady’s much-discussed comment on HBO’s “The Shop” last year — “you’re sticking with that m—-f—-?” — was a reference to Carr, and that it also serves to undermine the Raiders’ main guy.

These are all good talking points, but they are also a case of lazy assumptions taking over the narrative.

For starters, if you can get past the mind-bending thought that White — a Bostonian who has admired Brady and Gronkowski since their New England years and who hosted both at UFC events in his adopted hometown of Vegas — was a key figure in what would have been an absolute blockbuster of an NFL transaction, consider this:

Does it truly cast a shadow over Carr that the Raiders organization may have wanted to go down the Brady path? How is that exactly?

It’s not like they were seeking to boot him out the door at the earliest opportunity, it was only when the once-in-a-lifetime chance to snare a then-six-time Super Bowl winner cropped up. The mooted replacement wasn’t Mike Glennon. It was Tom Brady.

That’s no slight on Carr at all. As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers found out, getting hold of a GOAT tends to do pretty nice things for your overall chances of performing small tasks like winning a Super Bowl.

What team wouldn’t have jumped at that chance in the middle months of 2020? Kansas City, of course. Green Bay? Maybe a handful of others. Not many.

As for the “m—–f—–” part, that’s all good fun and fluff to keep us chattering until the season begins, but not much more. Yes, it does now seem like the story fits the idea that Carr was the man being referenced, but cases just as assured were made by conspiracy theorists previously toting Jimmy Garoppolo or Ryan Tannehill as the unnamed QB.

Brady, in recent years, has found himself to be rather good at cheekily fueling the NFL gossip mill, as might be expected of someone who’s been at the top for two decades but only newly discovered the devilish delights of social media.

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If we ever do find out who was being spoken of on “The Shop,” it will probably be a long time from now, when it has long ceased to matter.

It shouldn’t matter to Carr, anyway. Quite sensibly, the Raiders signal-caller has taken a pragmatic approach to the gossip and brushed it off with aplomb during his media sessions.

“It really doesn’t matter,” Carr told reporters. “Anything I say will just be blasted out there, so I’m just going to completely remove myself and just keep trying to play football. It’s been nice just answering football questions. And hopefully, no more drama in the city. That’s what I hope.”

Regarding additional pressure on Carr, don’t be so sure. Raiders fans beat to their own tune, and while Brady and Gronk would have been welcomed with open arms in Vegas like they would any other place, the Silver and Black don’t take too kindly to one of their own being maligned by external sources.

Suggestions, therefore, that Carr is the fall guy in all this may just be met with a swift rebuttal, especially if he makes a strong start to the campaign in the loaded AFC West and charts a course pointing to a playoff return.

Carr threw for 23 touchdowns and a career-best 4,804 yards last season, and now has his dear friend and former Fresno State target Davante Adams alongside him in Sin City. FOX Bet rates the Raiders +650 to win the division, a price that reflects Russell Wilson’s move to the Denver Broncos and the general bullishness on the Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers.

As stated at the top, plenty of things that happen in Vegas don’t stay there after all, but the team’s quarterback remains, with arguably a fresh source of motivation – rather than a mound of pressure – resting at his shoulder.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Y ou can subscribe to the daily newsletter here.