Oakland Raiders: 5 players who must improve

1. Derek Carr

The poster boy for Oakland’s six-win drop last year is Carr. He went from 28 touchdown passes in 2016 (and 32 in 2015) to 22 last year, while more than doubling his interception total (13, from 6 in 2016) over fewer pass attempts in the same number of games played (15 each season). he only missed one game due to a back injury suffered in Week 4, but the issue clearly limited him. It’s also worth wondering if there were some lingering effects from the broken leg that ended his 2016 season.

Gruden has been consistent in the idea he will demand a lot from Carr, who for a very brief time nearly a year ago was the league’s highest-paid quarterback after signing a five-year, $125 million contract extension ($40 million guaranteed). In concert with the assumption of better health, Carr has to raise his level of play to match that paycheck more closely this year.

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In some combination of words, it’s been said that a great quarterback is a great deodorant. Carr may not be on the level of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL right now, and he may never quite get there. But at minimum, he can’t be the most visible source of any stench emanating from the Raiders this year.