“Invitation got lost in the mail,” Derek Carr hilariously reacts to his Pro Bowl selection, will don the Raiders colors for one last time before parting ways with the franchise
Carr is to start in his fourth Pro Bowl after most of the AFC Pro Bowl selections backed out due to injuries.
Derek Carr (Image via Raiders Wire)
Super Bowl LVII finally got its competitors in NFC Champions Philadelphia Eagles and AFC Champions Kansas City Chiefs. Now the league had to make changes to the Pro Bowl finalists as members from both these teams won’t be in attendance in Las Vegas.
The original AFC quarterback Pro Bowl selections were Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen, with Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, and Lamar Jackson serving as backups. Now that Mahomes is going to Super Bowl, he won’t be starting. Allen, Herbert, Jackson, and Tagovailoa are all out with injuries and Burrow has also refused to play.
Now, the three AFC quarterbacks are Derek Carr, Trevor Lawrence, and Tyler Huntley. The most intriguing selection among these three signal-callers is Carr who will be donning the Las Vegas Raiders helmet, which might be his last time as he bids adieu to the franchise at the end of the regular season.
Derek Carr will play as a Las Vegas Raiders quarterback for one last time
Carr was selected 36th overall by the Raiders in the 2014 NFL draft. During his nine seasons in Las Vegas, he delivered just two winning seasons in 2016 and 2021. He took them to the playoffs in 2016 but lost in the wild-card game against the Houston Texans. Given his repeated failure to deliver the team with wins, he was benched for the last two weeks of the regular season this year.
Carr started in 15 games in 2022 and went 6-9 completing 305 of his 502 passing attempts for 3,522 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions (career-high). He penned an emotional note to all the Raiders fans last month announcing him parting ways with the franchise. “Raider Nation it breaks my heart I didn’t get an opportunity to say goodbye in person,” Carr wrote. “We certainly have been on a roller coaster in our nine years together. From the bottom of my heart, I am so grateful and appreciative of the years of support you gave to my family and me.
The 31-year-old will play his last game as a Raider on February 5, in the Pro Bowl match between AFC and NFC at the Allegiant Stadium. “Well… maybe this invitation got lost in the mail from past seasons but I’m going back to pro bowl #4. See you soon Vegas!,” Derek tweeted after his agent Tim Younger announced his Pro Bowl selection. Younger wrote, “Not exactly a storybook ending, but fun way to kick off a new beginning.”
Derek Carr made the Pro Bowl from 2015 to 2017 consecutively, and this year will mark his fourth selection in nine years. The Fresno State quarterback had signed a three-year contract extension worth $121.5 million last year that included a no-trade clause. As the situation stands, if Carr agrees to trade before February 15, he will receive a $40 million guaranteed payment.
Yash Karandekar
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