Carr Calls Mariota 'One of the Best' Teammates

Marcus Mariota made his intentions perfectly clear.

In so doing, the former Tennessee Titans quarterback also made a strong first impression.

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr spoke to The Athletic this week on a wide variety of subjects, including the addition of Mariota in the opening days of the free agency signing period. Carr said that Raiders coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock alerted him that they intended to pursue the No. 2 overall pick in 2015 and that Mariota reached out almost immediately after a deal was agreed upon.

“I will say this, I’ve been around a lot of good dudes, but (Mariota) is one of the best people that I’ve ever been around,” Carr told The Athletic. “I’ve had a lot of great quarterbacks come into our room and a lot of guys that were excited — E.J. Manuel comes to mind — but Marcus was the first one out of all those guys that right when he signed, he texted me and said, ‘Derek, I am here to fully support you and help in any way that I can, and grow myself as a player and get healthy.’”

Mariota’s deal with the Raiders is for two years and $17.5 million. It includes incentives that could more than double his earnings based on playing time and performance.

Carr has been the Raiders’ starting quarterback for the past six seasons. He has led that team to a winning record just once and never has appeared in a playoff game (he was injured when that franchise reached the postseason in 2016).

“He’s just here to help … and obviously, he is here to compete — we all know that,” Carr said. “This is football. That’s everybody’s job.

“… I gotta be honest with you, it doesn’t even bother me one bit. And that is being completely true to myself. No one outside of who I am is going to push me harder than me.”

And no one seems happier than Carr that Mariota is now his backup.

“I knew ahead of time that Marcus was on the radar, but I didn’t know if Marcus would choose to come here,” he said. “But I’m glad that he did.”