Matt Schaub is ready for a career re-start in many ways. His tenure with the Houston Texans ended poorly. After bringing the team to the postseason for several years, one bad stretch of games saw him plummet out of favor with the fanbase and eventually benched for good. The Texans then traded him to the Raiders who drafted a rookie to learn underneath him and Schaub is embracing his new role.
Schaub has cemented himself as the starting quarterback for the Oakland Raiders. Head coach Dennis Allen is not interested in a competition during training camp, setting the depth chart before practices even began. The veteran quarterback is well aware that he is meant to hold the franchise down while future star, Derek Carr, learns and develops under him. The fresh start and new role has Schaub excited to play football again.
"I'm very excited," Schaub said, SFGate.com. "It's the first step in moving forward here with a new organization. A new beginning. It's a football town. We progressed as an organization, went to the playoffs twice and lost in the divisional round two times in a row. The expectations were there. When you don't get the job done, that's just the nature of this business. Right or wrong."
While Schaub has the coaching staff excited, Carr is also gaining his fair share of praise as the season gets underway. Allen is loving the new look at the quarterback rotation, confident the team finally has the stability they have been looking for. Two weeks into camp and Carr has shown some rookie mistakes, but the team is confident it is all just growing issues. He will see a significant amount of playing time during the first preseason game as Allen expects Schaub to guide him along the way.
"I'm really excited about Derek Carr," Allen said, via ESPN.com. "I think he's got a chance to be a top-level quarterback in this league. But he's young, and he's a rookie. That's a tough proposition in this league. I know we've seen some guys that have been able to have some success as rookie quarterbacks, but I've also seen some opportunities where guys have had a chance to sit in behind a veteran quarterback and watch and learn and go on to have successful careers."
While Carr and Schaub continue to excel, little to nothing has been heard from Matt McGloin since practices got underway. The quarterback came into the season hopeful to return to his starting job that he earned last season, but instead has fallen to third string. McGloin's career with the Raiders is likely over at the end of this season. The team attempt to trade him during the offseason, getting rid of Terrelle Pryor instead. It can be expected that McGloin will not see the field this season despite his flashes of potential last year.
