National Football League

Derek Carr wants to be ‘Raider 4 life’ after reportedly becoming NFL’s highest-paid player

Published Jun. 23, 2017 4:21 p.m. ET

Dan Graf

When reports surfaced Wednesday that quarterback Derek Carr was on the verge of agreeing to a long-term contract with the Oakland Raiders, Carr took to social media to remind fans that you’d hear it from him first when a deal was done.

On Thursday, he was true to his word.

https://twitter.com/derekcarrqb/status/877891193211936768

NFL Network’s Thursday report on the dollar figure matches what ESPN was reporting a day earlier – that Carr will get $125 million over five years, and several outlets are reporting that he has up to $70 million in guarantees.

https://twitter.com/JasonLaCanfora/status/877910151138877440

The $25 million amount is important because – if accurate – it would make Carr the NFL’s highest-paid player. Fellow quarterbacks Andrew Luck ($24.594 million), Carson Palmer ($23.35M), Drew Brees ($24.25M) and Kirk Cousins ($23.9436M) would fall in right behind him.

Carr’s Raiders were 12-3 in 2016 when a broken leg ended his season in Week 16. He was having a career year, and Oakland lost both its season finale and playoff game without him. He’s fully healthy entering 2017, and if that injury proved anything it’s that Carr is worth every penny of this contract to an Oakland team that needs him on the field to win games.