Daily Madden: Quarterback Questions For Raiders And 49ers
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SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — After Derek Carr threw three touchdowns for a 41-31 preseason victory in Oakland against the Seattle Seahawks Thursday night, the elephant in the Coliseum now for the Raiders is whether he should start for the regular season.
Coach Madden thinks that may be the case—eventually.
Daily Madden: Quarterback Questions For Raiders And 49ers
"You'd like to be able to have that choice—either Matt Schaub start or Derek Carr—but that would be your decision on when Carr is ready. Derek Carr is going to be a starter when he's ready to be the starter and you don't want to be forced into that situation if you don't think he's ready so therefore if Matt Schaub can play then you can make a decision," he said.
"They will probably go with Matt Schaub and then keep Derek Carr as backup and eventually start him but you could still have that choice and go with Derek Carr if you wanted to."
Madden said the Raiders haven't had a solid quarterback in long time and while Carr shows promise, it would be hasty to make a decision after only two weeks. It's overall development, he said, that will determine his longevity.
"There have been a lot of quarterbacks that have been ruined by playing to early," he said.
The 49ers, meanwhile, have their backup quarterback competition between Josh Johnson and Blaine Gabbert.
Oakland native Johnson, who has outplayed Gabbert, threw three touchdowns routing the Texans 40-13 in Houston on Thursday. But finances may factor into that decision: Gabbert's $2 million salary is fully guaranteed and he would count against the salary cap if released.
But Madden said the decision is ultimately based on how many quarterbacks 49ers want to keep.
"If you keep three then that's easy, then you keep them both and you can juggle from week to week who's number two. And hopefully you don't have to use either one of them," he said.
"Now if they decide to just go with two quarterbacks, which I think is very, very dangerous—then they do have to make that decision. My guess—and again, it's only a guess—would be that they'll keep three."
