Raiders OC Greg Olson ‘we’ll do everything in our power’ to make Derek Carr long-term QB

USA Today

The Oakland Raiders have decided to make a drastic change by revamping the coaching staff with Jon Gruden back at the helm as head coach of the storied NFL franchise.

Along with Gruden retooling the coaching staff and changing the culture in Oakland, the team fully intends to continue building around quarterback Derek Carr. The team has done a good job of surrounding him with talent in order to get the best out of him to this point and the Raiders will stay the course with the goal of making Carr their long-term option quarterback, according to offensive coordinator Greg Olson via ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.

“We drafted this guy to be that franchise quarterback,” said returning Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Olson, who coached Carr as a rookie.

“We feel like he has the potential to be that guy that can be here and play for 10 more years. It’s up to us to try and get that out of him. We’ll do everything in our power to make sure that that happens, from practice to offseason programs, to what we’re doing defensively in practice — all those things will be designed to help Derek’s growth.”

Carr was recently named to the NFL Pro Bowl for a third consecutive season. Although he had somewhat of a disappointing season after being a legitimate NFL MVP candidate in 2016, Carr still played well for the most part.

Unfortunately, Oakland finished the season with a 6-10 record and missed the playoffs after ending the postseason drought last year.

With Gruden at the helm and Carr being the focal point of the team moving forward, the Raiders could have favorable odds to win it all next season. Oakland has a lot of work to do to fix things on defense and get stronger weapons around Carr, but they’re a talented team regardless with a potentially bright future ahead.