Jon Gruden is impressed with Derek Carr. What are the traits he likes?
Jon Gruden came away raving about Derek Carr after meeting the ex-Fresno State star at Gruden’s QB Camp leading up to the 2014 NFL Draft.
He looked at Carr’s film during his Bulldog days and was wowed with what he had seen.
“Your position playing style is completely different. I want you,” Gruden told Carr on the segment taped for ESPN. “What do you have to say about that?”
Carr replied: “I appreciate that. Let’s go win some championships now.”
It might happen –at least, Gruden coaching Carr. Gruden told the East Bay Times on Monday that he is a candidate for the Raiders’ coaching job, open after Oakland fired Jack Del Rio.
Perhaps some foreshadowing? another gem from the QB Camp segment was Gruden saying that “Al Davis would be very, very proud” of Carr.
Gruden said he will never forgot how Carr performed at QB Camp.
“We had two cameras set up 19 or 20 yards down the field on each hash mark. We threw some seam passes into the bull’s-eye where the GoPro camera was, and most of the guys hit the screen, a couple of guys would hit the target; Derek Carr hit the bull’s-eye both times and broke my cameras.”
Gruden was still high on Carr in 2016 when Gruden spoke with reporters during a conference call leading up to the Monday night game between the Raiders and Houston Texans in Mexico City.
“He’s such an upbeat, great kid,” Gruden said. “He’s got so much passion and energy and leadership. He’s fun to be around. He laughs. He works it. He’s a superstar, and he deserves a lot of credit.”
Anthony Galaviz: 559-441-6042, @agalaviz_TheBee
Gruden-Carr connection
It goes beyond Derek Carr.
When Jon Gruden talked with Derek Carr at his 2014 QB Camp, he mentioned he would have liked to have coached his older brother, David, at Tampa Bay, but the Buccaneers traded away their first- and second-round picks to the Oakland Raiders in 2002 (the year David Carr went No. 1 to the Houston Texans) and their first-rounder in 2003 and second-rounder in 2004.
In other words, Tampa Bay wasn’t in a position to trade up.
This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 8:30 AM with the headline "Jon Gruden is impressed with Derek Carr. What are the traits he likes?."