As America gets ready for the NFL season, some young up-and-coming quarterbacks are making their teams think about getting them on the field sooner rather than later.
Derek Carr, for instance, is doing in Oakland what Johnny Manziel could not do in Cleveland.
Carr started the final preseason game for the Raiders, in place of Matt Schaub, who is getting older and battling elbow issues again. When the Raiders picked up Schaub from the Houston Texans earlier this summer, they probably thought he would guide the team this season, while young draft pick Carr would learned from the veteran.
In the start Saturday against the world champion Seahawks, Carr was hot right out of the gate. He scored a touchdown on his opening possession, going 5-7 and ending the drive by handing off to Latavius Murray for a 5-yard scamper into the end zone.
He played for most of the game, before being replaced by back-up Matt McGloin in the fourth quarter. He ended up throwing 3 touchdowns, in and 11-14 performance than garnered 143 yards. He showed exceptional throwing ability on two of the touchdowns.
Although the Raiders are under a great deal of pressure to start Carr, especially considering Schaub is suffering from the same kind of injury that lost him the starting job in Houston last year, Marcus Thompson II of the San Jose Mercury News thinks the Raiders should wait a while before throwing the young QB to the lions.
"Carr has proven he is worth of his draft pick and being dubbed quarterback. He is clearly the next. But now is premature. Like Semba -- he needs to wait to be king," Thompson writes.
Like Thompson thinks, it's unlikely the Raiders will give Carr the keys in week one, but by week 4 things might be different.
There is little doubt Schaub will be on a tight leash, especially after the way the rookie has performed this preseason.
