Trading Derek Carr may be more challenging than the Raiders hoped.
“The Raiders have very little leverage because Carr has a no-trade clause, and interested teams believe they can sign Carr for a more favorable contract, wrote The Atheltic’s Jeff Howe.
If a team trades for Carr, it inherits a contract with three years remaining and an average salary of $40.5 million, per Spotrac. However, if it waits until Carr’s release, they can re-negotiate and sign a cheaper deal.
Teams also know the Raiders lack negotiating power because they need more time. They must release Carr before Feb. 15, or his remaining salary is activated. Releasing him before only results in a $5.6M cap hit.
The Raiders can get an extension on this deadline if Carr approves. Yet during a Thursday news conference, he indicated he would not extend the deadline for the Raiders. “I don’t think that would be best for me,” he said.
The Raiders’ options are limited, so they may have to restructure Carr’s deal to re-ignite trade interest.
“I get the sense that some teams will want to rework this deal to facilitate a trade,” wrote ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
It’s unclear if Carr would be willing to re-negotiate his current deal, but he might prefer a trade “because the optics of getting traded are better than getting cut,” wrote Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.
Regardless, the market for Carr is cold, decreasing trade probability and increasing the chance that he is released.
