Over his first four NFL seasons, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr has mostly operated out of the shotgun in passing situations.
Carr came into the league from Fresno State, where he ran the spread offense, and was most comfortable taking snaps from center deep in the backfield. That’s continued since his NFL rookie season of 2014. Though he did operate under center at times, even those snaps decreased when he hurt a finger during the 2016 season.
Then, last season, Carr suffered the worst season of his young career, morphing from potential league MVP candidate in 2016 to struggling in 2017.
Now with Jon Gruden’s return as head coach of the Raiders in 2018, Carr will be under scrutiny more than ever before. Can he regain his 2016 form? Will he and Gruden work well together? Can Gruden help turn him into one of the NFL’s best QBs?
This week, Andy Benoit of Sports Illustrated reported that Gruden is expected to have Carr operate more under center than he ever has. Gruden believes it will allow Carr to get more in rhythm with the game.
Wrote Benoit: “One of the most fascinating ‘football nerd’ items to watch this season is how often Jon Gruden has … Carr under center, as opposed to in the shotgun. Gruden is an advocate for traditional under-center quarterbacking, as that exchange synchronizes the timing and mechanics he preaches in his West Coast offense. But Carr, like every twentysomething-year-old QB, has spent much of his life in shotgun.
“The rise in shotgun popularity was partly a response to the diverse nickel fronts that defenses started presenting right around the time Gruden left coaching for broadcasting. Now it’s a way to maximize quick-timing throws out of three-receiver sets – an approach, by the way, that plays to Carr’s physical attributes.
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“You can run a lot of West Coast concepts out of shotgun, just with some procedural differences. How much will Gruden tweak his approach, and how much will he ask Carr to tweak his?”
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the exhibition season – at least in the limited times when Carr is on the field.
The Raiders and Carr are taking a break now, following last week’s minicamp, and will report for training camp in mid-July.
