Niner Noise
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NFL hot seat: 5 quarterbacks who will be under pressure in 2019

By Peter Panacy

TAMPA, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 25: Jameis Winston #3 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gets interviewed after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 27-9 at Raymond James Stadium on November 25, 2018 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 25: Jameis Winston #3 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gets interviewed after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 27-9 at Raymond James Stadium on November 25, 2018 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /
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OAKLAND, CA – DECEMBER 24: Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders speaks with head coach Jon Gruden on the sidelines during their NFL game against the Denver Broncos at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on December 24, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Robert Reiners/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA – DECEMBER 24: Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders speaks with head coach Jon Gruden on the sidelines during their NFL game against the Denver Broncos at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on December 24, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Robert Reiners/Getty Images) /

No. 3: Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders

During the offseason, there was no shortage of speculation the Oakland Raiders would consider using one of their numerous picks in Rounds 1 and 2 to grab a quarterback in this year’s NFL Draft.

After all, it’s become nearly impossible to gauge what Raiders head coach Jon Gruden wants to do under center, yet it certainly cast shadows on his incumbent, Derek Carr, and where his future lies with the team.

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Well, Oakland didn’t use one of those picks on a quarterback, and it’s looking as if Carr is safe. For now, at least.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Carr said last May. “This is my team and it will be for the next however long I want to play.”

Contractually speaking, that statement would make sense. But like with Cam Newton, Carr’s dead-money hit decreases significantly until the deal expires in 2023.

More importantly, however, is how Carr will respond to the various offensive upgrades Gruden and Co. engineered this offseason, namely bringing aboard wide receiver Antonio Brown. If Carr and Brown establish a rapport early, the signal-caller’s placement on the NFL hot seat would diminish a lot.

Yet there remain questions about Carr’s poise ever since his late-2016 leg injury, and that could remain a reason to keep a close eye on him amid a very strange-acting Raiders franchise under Gruden the past year-plus.