Fittingly, or not, the Raiders and their nine-year quarterback will officially divorce on Valentine’s Day.
Derek Carr must exit the roster by 3:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday. If not, he’ll be on the roster when NFL business commences on Wednesday, February 15. Which would result in $40.4 million in injury guarantees converting to full guarantees.
This has always been the most likely outcome, from the moment the Raiders put Carr in bubble wrap with two regular-season games to play. If Carr had suffered an injury that would have kept him from passing a physical before today, the $40.4 million would have become completely and totally guaranteed.
Thus, once the organization decided it was time to move on from Carr, the only play was to move him off the field.
We said it when coach Josh McDaniels first waffled on Carr’s status in the days after what ended up being his last game with the team, a Christmas Eve loss in Pittsburgh. And while the Raiders tried to trade him -- and some in the media arguably tried to help them make it happen, or were just naive -- it was always pointing to Carr being cut.
For any player, it’s always better to be cut than traded. If a team is willing to trade for a player’s contract, that team would pay that player at least as much as he was due to make, if not more, if that team could acquire him without giving up something in trade.
So Carr, unless the Raiders screw up the paperwork, will become a free agent tomorrow morning. He’ll get a one-month head start on free agency. He’ll be able to sign with any team that he wants.
And if any team truly would have traded for him, he’ll emerge from the process with more than the $40.4 million in guarantees he would have become entitled to on Wednesday.
