Oakland Raiders: Veteran cornerback’s valuation seems a bit overstated

The Oakland Raiders desperately need help at cornerback, but they must take care to avoid overpaying for somebody’s services.

The Oakland Raiders, with numerous roster holes to fill – and relatively limited cap space – are going to have some tough decisions to make regarding who to re-sign and who to let walk. And one of those decisions is veteran corner, T.J. Carrie.

Though the 2014 Draft class is going to be remembered as the class that netted the Raiders a franchise quarterback in Derek Carr and defensive All-World Everything, Khalil Mack, it’s also the same class that netted them seventh-round cornerback Carrie.

Over his four years in Silver and Black, Carrie has done everything his coaches have asked of him. He’s been good in the locker room, a solid teammate, and great in the community. And on the field, he’s done the very best he could in, oftentimes, exceedingly difficult circumstances.

But now, Carrie’s rookie deal is up, and GM Reggie McKenzie and HC Jon Gruden have a difficult call to make. To sign, or to not sign Carrie – that is the question.

On the one hand, it seems like an easy call to make. Oakland needs help on the corners and Carrie is an experienced veteran, well liked within the organization.

On the other hand though, in his first four years, he really hasn’t done all that much to distinguish himself. He hasn’t proven that he can be a lockdown type. He’s not a ballhawk, and for every good play he makes – of which, there are many – he also has a tendency to get torched from time to time.

When discussing the possibility of re-signing Carrie, in article after article after article, you see people say that he was quite clearly, Oakland’s best cornerback last season.

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And that is undoubtedly true. He was Oakland’s best corner last season. But, as has been written on these pages of Golden Gate Sports before, that’s like winning an ugly contest. Oakland’s pass defense was pitiful last season, and very clearly, one of the absolute worst in the league.

For the year, Carrie finished with the exact same number of interceptions as David Amerson – a guy who only played six games in 2017 – and that would be zero.

So, saying that Carrie was Oakland’s best cornerback last season isn’t exactly the feather in the cap some people seem to think it is.

In fact, over his four seasons in Oakland, in his 60 games (and 36 starts), Carrie has just three total interceptions. He’s also notched 202 tackles (168 solo), five fumble recoveries, 30 passes defensed, three forced fumbles – and has fumbled twice on his own.

It’s not exactly an eye-popping stat line and not indicative of a shutdown, lockdown type corner. He’s decent in the slot, to be sure. But, he’s definitely not a number one corner, and probably can’t really even be considered a number two.

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He’s also versatile, having having returned 52 punts for 387 yards (an average of 7.4 yards per return), and 15 kickoffs for another 362 yards (an average of 24.1 yards per return) – although he hasn’t handled kickoff duties since his rookie season in 2014.

At best, Carrie is a fairly solid rotational piece. And yet, his valuation per Sportrac is roughly $6 – 6.5 million annually. Or, roughly the same they were paying Amerson.

Some might be tempted to pull the trigger, saying he’s a solid option on the corner. But, over the last four years, we’ve seen Carrie’s ceiling and it’s unfortunately, not all that high. That valuation, given his production over the last four years, seems a bit overinflated.

It’s a time when the Oakland brain trust needs to make some tough decisions and find ways to get maximum bang for the buck. Although a great guy by all accounts, what we’ve seen from Carrie over these last four years isn’t getting maximum bang for those six million bucks.

As tough as it might be and as cold-hearted as it seems simply because he’s a good guy, it might be time for the Raiders to let him walk if they can’t get him to take a number well below that Sportrac valuation.

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If Carrie is married to that number and doesn’t want to come down from it, the Raiders may be better served by using that money to upgrade the position.

The secondary was one of the team’s biggest Achilles Heels last season and simply put, they need better talent back there. But, given the cap constraints, they’re going to need to be very smart in how they go about upgrading it.

Bringing Carrie back on a new deal likely isn’t out of the equation entirely at this point. Although, the team must take care to not overpay for somebody who is more rotational depth guy than upgraded starter.

Carrie playing another year in Oakland isn’t out of the question – but hopefully only if, the price is right.