Las Vegas Raiders Derek Carr Addresses Maskless Players
Henderson, Nev. -- What was meant to be a celebration has evolved into a potential tragedy for the Las Vegas Raiders.
On Monday night, multiple Raiders players gathered at a local establishment to help tight end Darren Waller raise money for his foundation.
Video and pictures from the event exposed multiple players not abiding by the NFL/NFLPA negotiated requirements on using and wearing a mask.
Derek Carr of the Raiders knows that he is the franchise's public face as the quarterback. He addressed the matter today.
"We've done a fantastic job around here, and I hate that a few moments without our masks on led to a story about our team and all this kind of stuff, and especially after the fines that were that brought on a couple of weeks ago," Carr said. "We felt terrible about that; we addressed it, we talked with coach. We've talked with the trainers about what really went down and all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, we were there.
"We've been doing our very best and we had a few moments where we slipped up, took the masks off so people could see our faces and things like that. We signed waivers, hand sanitizer like crazy, all this kind of stuff. We tried our best even at the event with everything, and we weren't perfect, but we were trying our best."
Carr was emotional in trying to explain the desire to help people that led to the error in judgment.
"We weren't trying to be careless or reckless,” Carr said. “But at the same time, Darren Waller had an event for something that meant a lot to him, and they raised so much money that you won't even begin to imagine how much money they raised to help other people who struggle with addiction to get them in the right place and things like that."
Raiders coach Jon Gruden also addressed the situation.
“They're aware of their mistake, but we've done an excellent job of using our masks and taking proper care of each other and everybody," Gruden said. "I'm really proud of our players. By the way, that was a great cause and no one's talked about it.
"(Waller) raised over $300,000 for a great, great cause. I appreciate our players being there in support of him. But you're right, they may have let their dauber down by taking the masks off during the event."
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