Raiders were smart to pay their quarterback sooner rather than later

The Oakland Raiders could have waited to see how Derek Carr recovered from a broken leg suffered in Week 17 of last season. The team had the franchise tag if it couldn’t negotiate a long-term deal before he was set to hit free agency next March.

Instead, the Raiders dished out a record-breaking five-year, $125 million deal to Carr on Thursday. The contract locks up the 26-year-old quarterback through the 2022 season and keeps him from reaching free agency until he’s 31.

But it was a smart move.

Carr is the new highest-paid player in the history of the NFL, with the Raiders now committed to pay him an average of $25 million per season for the next five years.

It’s a pretty staggering amount of money to commit to a quarterback who was eighth in passer rating (96.7), seventh in touchdown passes (28), and 15th in completion percentage (63.8). While Carr has steadily ascended as one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL, it’s hard to make the argument that he’s top five at the position.

That’s also a large chunk of the salary cap, which is currently set at $167 million per team. It’s also a risk to commit significant amounts of guaranteed money to any player who could get injured and instantly become much less valuable.

Oakland only had three options:

After a decade of a revolving door of quarterbacks — including JaMarcus Russell, Kerry Collins, Carson Palmer, and Jason Campbell — the Raiders weren’t willing to follow the third option.

Oakland found its franchise quarterback and a record-breaking contract is just the price tag to keep one.

Sure, the team could’ve waited until next offseason to either pay Carr or give the quarterback the franchise tag. But barring a serious injury or a sudden regression, Carr wasn’t going to get any cheaper.

Washington went with the second option with Kirk Cousins. A year ago, the team played hardball and offered the quarterback a contract averaging $16 million per year with just $24 million guaranteed. He opted to play on the franchise tag and earned a spot in the Pro Bowl with a 97.2 passer rating.

Now he is due to make $23.94 million under the franchise tag in 2017 and Washington has until July to reach a deal with Cousins or there’s a real chance he leaves as a free agent during the 2018 offseason. If Cousins demands $27 million per year and $90 million guaranteed, can Washington afford to say no?

Ultimately, the Raiders are fronting the bill now because the price is only going to go up. They avoided the mistake that Washington made by not paying Cousins and now have a franchise quarterback to work with for the next five years. Chalk that up as a win for the Raiders.