Derek Carr reiterates his belief that he never doubted his status for 2019

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Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, after an offseason that featured the coach working out a pair of incoming rookies and the General Manager explaining in matter-of-fact terms the constant search for an upgrade at every position, including quarterback, now claims he never had any concern that he’d be supplanted.

And he has developed a catch phrase for characterizing his level of concern.

“About negative 47 percent if that’s possible,” Carr told Adam Schein of SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio, one day after Carr used the “negative 47 percent” line when talking to reporters. “I guess it doesn’t happen everywhere and people are shocked by it. But the General Manager, the head coach, and the quarterback are all on the same page all the time, whether it’s good news or bad news. And, that’s how we operate here. Throw our owner into that. We are all on the same page, literally all the time. And so, we talked right when the season ended, we talked a couple weeks after that, obviously the right way, and going about it, and all that. We knew exactly what was going on, why some things were happening and all these kind of things. So to say negative 47 percent might even be an understatement.”

Of course, if Carr were “negative 47 percent” concerned about his status, he likely wouldn’t have posted a not-so-cryptic “I’m watching you” photo after word emerged of the Murray and Haskins workouts.

Even though the Raiders didn’t draft a quarterback last month, this doesn’t mean Carr should have been unconcerned. He definitely should have been concerned, and moving forward he absolutely should be.

“Let’s just get through this year first and then we’ll play that game again and I’ll probably have some more fun with it, but I’m not going anywhere,” Carr said Tuesday. “This is my team and it will be for the next however long I want to play.”

That’s a bizarre, presumptuous statement. Time and again, franchise quarterbacks have had to end their careers elsewhere. From Brett Favre and Peyton Manning, to John Unitas and Joe Namath. Current franchise quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers accept that it could happen, and Tom Brady has used fear of inevitably being cut by the Patriots as motivation throughout his career.

Starting in 2020, Carr’s contract becomes a year-to-year proposition for the Raiders, who can dump him with no financial cost and minimal cap consequence. He hardly has the lifetime arrangement he thinks he has, and he has plenty to do to earn it. Especially in light of the reality that, if the Antonio Brown trade doesn’t work out with Brown generating big numbers in the Oakland offense, neither Brown nor coach Jon Gruden will get the blame for it.

Carr will.