Derek Carr to start for Raiders in Week 1; first of the 2014 class

The Oakland Raiders have named Derek Carr their starter for week 1 of the season against the New York Jets.  Carr is the first and currently only quarterback selected from the 2014 class to start at this point.  After an impressive closing argument where Carr led the Raiders to 28 points against the Seattle Seahawks in the last preseason game, head coach Dennis Allen has gone ahead and given their second round pick the nod over Matt Schaub.

At this point, the Raiders have two of their recent draft picks slated to start as Khalil Mack, the team’s top overall pick will also be starting.  It may not be long before the team’s third round pick, Gabe Jackson, could be in the starting lineup as one of their guards.

Carr was the most talented quarterback on the Raiders team the second he was drafted and beating out Schaub, who is coming off a brutal year, is not overly impressive.  Nevertheless, Carr was effective in the preseason and has looked the part.  To this point, he has looked better with his footwork as well as his pocket presence, which were the two biggest question marks he had during the draft process.

The Jets are hurting in the secondary, but Rex Ryan has done more with less during his career and undoubtedly will make it difficult for Carr to have a big debut.  It remains to be seen if Carr can keep up the production he had shown in preseason, but he is at least the first of the class that gets ply their trade on the NFL level.

Of the quarterbacks selected in the first round, Blake Bortles and Teddy Bridgewater may not be far behind in terms of their readiness to start, but the Jacksonville Jaguars and Minnesota Vikings are taking their team with both.  Meanwhile, Johnny Manziel has looked far and away the least prepared to play in the NFL and the Cleveland Browns may be best served to keep him as far away as possible from the playing field for the time being.