It's pretty good to be Derek Carr these days.
A new $125 million contract. As much Chick-fil-A as any human could ever want. The trendy Super Bowl buzz. And a new toy on offense in Marshawn Lynch.
Pairing Lynch on the ground with the ascending Carr-Amari Cooper tandem in the air makes Oakland one of the most dynamic offenses in the league. The Raiders traded for the bruising running back this offseason with their eye on a run at a title, using Lynch as a punishing hammer on defenses, especially in the cold December contests and as the calendar turns to January.
But could Carr feel compelled to prove his value now that he's the highest-paid player in league history? Will he feel the need win games with his arm over just handing the ball off to Lynch and letting Beast Mode do its thing? Don't count on it.
"My No. 1 goal is that I'm going to make sure that I give everything I have to this organization," Carr told reporters Friday at a news conference announcing his new contract. "There's no pressure, there's no, you know, we'll be on the 1-yard line and I won't give it to Marshawn -- I'll throw it. There's none of that stuff. I don't care about the stats. That's not my No. 1 objective. I don't care if I throw 10 touchdowns next year. If we win every game, that's all I care about."
So there you have it. Carr has no intentions of getting Malcolm Butler'd in a hypothetical Super Bowl XLIX scenario, and doesn't feel the need to prove the new-mega contract is justified. We're sure Marshawn is happy to hear.
By the way, that sound you just heard is a million Seahawks fans -- and probably Richard Sherman -- telling Carr to can it.
