As the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets kickoff the 2014 NFL regular season on Sunday, September 7th, a rookie QB will make his first career start. It was announced today that the Raiders have named Derek Carr the starting QB.
Carr, drafted in the 2nd round out of Fresno University, only started one-preseason game for the silver and black this August. It was the Raiders finale against the Seattle Seahawks, and Carr apparently showed enough to head coach Dennis Allen by throwing for 143 yards and three touchdowns, according to CBSSports.com.
Carr beat out veteran Matt Schaub, who did not throw one TD all summer and struggled mightily. The Raiders brought Schaub in during the offseason as it looked like they would ride him in 2014. However, one rookie QB later and Schaub will be on the sidelines holding a clipboard.
This now marks the second-consecutive season that the Raiders traded for a QB (Matt Flynn), only to see him get beat out by somebody else during camp.
Now is not the time for celebration though. Carr will be facing one of the league’s best front-sevens in the Jets on opening day. He can expect a load of elaborate blitz schemes from defensive guru and Jets head coach Rex Ryan on that opening Sunday.
Carr finished the preseason throwing for 326 yards and four TD’s on 30 of 45 passing, according to RotoWorld.com.