NFL insider explains why a Derek Carr trade isn’t going to happen

Is Derek Carr swapping in black and silver for black and gold this offseason? Not so fast, says Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.

After the Las Vegas Raiders granted the New Orleans Saints permission to host Derek Carr for a visit, a trade seems all but imminent.

The Saints are the only team with permission to talk to Carr as the Raiders continue to keep the quarterback on a tight leash this offseason. The two franchises have reportedly already agreed to trade compensation, and all Carr needs to do is approve the move and waive his no-trade clause.

Sounds simple enough in theory, but one NFL pundit is speaking out against the shotgun wedding.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio claims “there isn’t enough time” for everything to come together, and the current circumstances do in fact feel a bit rushed.

The smartest move for Carr this offseason, per Florio, was to force the Raiders to either pay him or cut him from the roster. That way, Carr would be able to explore all his options in free agency and potentially start a bidding war for himself among needy teams.

Right now, Carr and the Raiders are in the middle of a very painful divorce with neither side willing to concede to the other.

Derek Carr’s contract saga plot thickens ahead of crucial February deadline

Consider Carr as the stereotypical housewife who now suddenly wants to make something out of himself while the Raiders, the spiteful husbands they are, don’t want Carr to leave without getting something in return.

Carr, who has $40.4 million in contract money that becomes guaranteed if he remains on the Raiders’ roster on February 15, would help Las Vegas tremendously by extending that deadline to give the franchise more time to resolve the sticky situation at quarterback.

However, after the Raiders unceremoniously ousted Carr at the end of the 2022 season and refused to let him negotiate with other teams at the start of the offseason, Carr made it clear he’s not playing by Las Vegas’ rules.

The quarterback showed up to the Pro Bowl sans any Raiders gear and directed a snarky comment at his own franchise implying he was “going somewhere else” in 2023.

Whether his next destination is New Orleans or a different team still remains up for debate. A quickly negotiated trade to the Saints is Carr’s only solid offer on the table right now, but Carr could potentially attract much more lucrative offers if he divorces himself from the Raiders first.

Carr holds a royal flush of leverage against the Raiders’ folded hand and, as Florio points out, could secure a much bigger bag by forcing his own release and then leveraging interested teams against each other in an all-out bidding competition.

The opportunity for a truce between Carr and the Raiders passed by months ago. Now, it’s a full-blown war.