The Oakland Raiders did something that the Cleveland Browns were unwilling to do: make a rookie quarterback their Week 1 starter.
CarrDerek Carr will get an opportunity to establish himself as the team’s leader this Sunday when the Raiders face the New York Jets.
Here are some of the top statistical storylines related to this story.
Earned on merit
Carr had significantly better numbers this preseason than the other possible starter, former Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub.
Carr had a 67 percent completion percentage with four touchdown passes. Schaub completed only 51 percent of his pass attempts and did not throw for a touchdown.
One and only
Carr is currently slated to be the only rookie quarterback to start in Week 1 this season. A second-round rookie quarterback starting Week 1 is a little unusual. It didn’t happen at all from 2002 to 2009, but this will mark the third instance in the last five seasons.
Carr’s opponent will be the most recent second-round rookie quarterback to start in Week 1: Geno Smith of the Jets. Smith beat the Buccaneers in his debut last season.
What can we glean from his college numbers?
Carr led FBS last season with 74 completions of 20 yards or longer for Fresno State last season, but he also threw an FBS-high 138 screen passes.
Carr's average pass traveled seven yards past the line of scrimmage, the fewest air yards per attempt of any of the top quarterback prospects in this past NFL Draft.
Also something to watch: Carr had a completion percentage of 29 percent when under duress, worst among the top quarterback prospects. When not under pressure, his completion percentage jumped to 72 percent.
Carr will be the first Fresno State quarterback to start Week 1 in his rookie season since his brother David started for the Texans in 2002.
David Carr had a rough go of it that season, completing only 53 percent of his passes, being intercepted 15 times and being sacked an NFL-record 76 times.
The Elias Sports Bureau notes that the Carrs will be the first pair of brothers to start Week 1 of a season as a rookie.
The path to this point
Rich Gannon's last year in the NFL was 2004. Since his departure, the Raiders have struggled to find a starting quarterback.
Derek Carr marks the eighth different Week 1 starter for the Raiders in the last 10 seasons and the fourth in the last four seasons. The Elias Sports Bureau notes that Carr will actually be the Raiders' first rookie quarterback to start in Week 1 since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
Carr is the fourth-highest drafted quarterback by the Raiders in the Super Bowl era, the highest since they drafted JaMarcus Russell No. 1 in 2007.
But it took quite a bit for the Raiders to arrive at this juncture. They used three of their 2014 draft picks to acquire three different quarterbacks. They traded a fifth-rounder last year to acquire Matt Flynn (who is currently on the Packers).
They traded a sixth-rounder in that draft to get Schaub from the Texans.
And then they drafted Carr with their second-round pick.
All-in-all, the Raiders have used eight of their draft picks the last three drafts to acquire seven different quarterbacks.
Carr and Schaub are the only two of those quarterbacks still with the team.
For more on Carr, check out this piece posted in conjunction with Carr's visit to Jon Gruden's QB Camp prior to the NFL Draft.