Derek Carr says fans who don’t follow the team to Las Vegas aren’t ‘true Raiders fans’

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr lambasted frustrated fans Monday, calling on them to support a franchise that’s abandoning them to chase bigger paydays in Sin City. According to Carr, fans who give up on the team for ditching its home state aren’t “true Raider fans.”

If it wasn’t bad enough they’re losing the NFL team that had called the Bay Area home for 43 of its 56 seasons, now Carr is giving lectures about how the city that wanted them to stay risks its fandom by giving up on the club that has already given up on them.

“We’re not going to split up like you’ve seen other cities do,” Carr told reporters, referring to the hurt feelings that marred relocation events like the Colts’ departure from Baltimore, the original Browns giving up on Cleveland, or the Oilers’ leaving Houston.

“We’re not going to do things like that. For the ones that do, I don’t really believe that they’re true Raider fans. I feel their hurt. I’m with you. I hurt, too. But at the same time, we’re all in this together and we’re just going to do it together.”

Carr and Raider fans are in a tricky situation. The team is stuck in Oakland through at least the 2018 season, and its new home in Nevada won’t be ready until 2020. While the rising star quarterback and 2016 Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack have led the franchise to its first playoff berth since 2002, its a bittersweet one. The Raiders’ revival comes with a built-in expiration date; its prime reserved for fans one state over.

Mack doesn’t think the impending move will be a distraction.

“That’s the easy part. It’s just outside noise. That’s the stuff you deal with throughout the year, all year. You deal with different teams, different players saying different things about your team. It’s ultimate focus for us to lock in on what we have to do right now. It’s just day by day, going to work with each other and doing what it takes to win ballgames. That’s our only focus.”

Though the relocation will take its toll on players, the fans are the ones who have had their loyalty rewarded by losing their hometown team. Carr doesn’t think that will be a problem, though his estimates seem awfully low, especially considering the team’s reputation for cultivating rowdy, diehard supporters.

“Out of like 1,000 people, you’re going to get one or two that have something to say and that’s with everything,” said the quarterback. “Hopefully y’all don’t focus on that kind of stuff because there’s the 99 percent that are loyal, faithful fans that are going to ride with us wherever we’re at.”

Carr may be right. Several Raiders fans will still don silver and black after the move, and he’s just trying to make the best out of what is clearly a difficult situation. But calling out angry fans only alienates and marginalizes a fan base with every right to be upset.

Oakland was the loser in this year’s offseason meetings, and it’s losing a storied NFL franchise as a result. Carr’s suggestion that upset fans are the problem, and not his team’s leadership, is a shortsighted dig at the people who stood by a team as it missed the postseason for 13 straight seasons.

The Raiders are leaving Oakland. “True Raiders fans” are the ones who should be angriest.