The Oakland Raiders have a lot of decisions to make this offseason as the team has just one win on the year and the biggest one might be regarding the quarterback position. The Raiders quarterback plan did not take off this year. They signed Matt Schaub to be a stop-gap option while rookie Derek Carr developed to become the franchise star. However, injuries forced Carr into the starting role and the results have not been good. After getting benched in Week 13, are Carr's days numbered in Oakland?
According to interim head coach Tony Sparano, Carr will not be benched for the remainder of the season and he intends the quarterback to be back against the San Francisco 49ers. The rookie quarterback is coming off the worst performance of his career after a blowout loss to the St. Louis Rams. He finished the game with a season-low passer rating of just 50.5, tossed two interceptions and could not get a single scoring drive going. He was benched in favor of Schaub who did not look good either. However, confidence still remains high in Carr going forward.
"There hasn't been really any thought about that," Sparano said, via ESPN.com. "I didn't get a lot of those questions [when the Raiders won], so there really hasn't been a lot of that kind of thought. There was a thought about that in the fourth quarter of the game when I decided to do that and that was purely my decision to do that at that point. There was just no need to keep Derek out there at that point any longer. Give Matt an opportunity to go out there and let Matt play a little bit and that was that."
The Raiders continue to operate under the idea that Carr will be the quarterback of the future. Sitting at 1-11 on the season, most of Carr's games have been ugly, but offensive coordinator Greg Olson believes the rookie just needs to learn how to keep battling despite the results being displayed.
It remains to be seen the path the Raiders take regarding their quarterback play. Schaub still has money on his contract making him a costly release. No one will trade for the veteran. Oakland will likely have to No. 1 overall draft pick that they could use on someone like Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota. They could also try to trade for Robert Griffin III or Johnny Manziel. However, if Carr is "the guy" going forward, surrounding him with better talent will become a bigger priority.
