Chargers should celebrate the Raiders significantly overpaying Derek Carr

Coming off of the team's first playoff berth in half a decade (still waiting for that playoff win, though), the Las Vegas Raiders decided it was time to pay Derek Carr. Carr was entering the last year of his contract and the Raiders took care of their quarterback, giving him a three-year, $121.5 million extension. This is something that the LA Chargers should be very happy about.

The average annual value of Carr's extension is $41.5 million, making him the fourth-highest paid quarterback by AAV in the entire league. What made Carr such a solid option for the Raiders in recent years was his insanely cap-friendly deal. Now, the Raiders are paying a non-premier quarterback premier quarterback money.

The Raiders really had no other option as Carr playing the last year of his contract without a new deal might not have happened. Plus, the last place a team wants to be is in quarterback purgatory and the Raiders would rather overpay Carr than enter a situation where they have no quarterback for the next half-decade.

That does not make it a good move, though, and it is one the Chargers should be celebrating.

Derek Carr is the 12th-14th best quarterback in the league and that is just way too much money to pay someone who is not even top-10 at his position. Quite frankly, Carr might be the line between having a quarterback who is good enough to pilot a team to a Super Bowl and having a quarterback who is good but needs a lot of help to succeed.

Carr certainly has help in the passing game with the addition of Davante Adams to go alongside Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller. However, the Raiders are paying a lot of money to Carr and Adams alone, making it much harder to fill the other holes on the roster.

Combine that to the fact that the Raiders traded both their first and second-round picks to the Packers for Adams and it is going to be really hard to fill the massive holes on the roster in the offensive line and the secondary.

Sure, they have one of the top receivers in the league and a competent quarterback who does not turn the ball over, but the Chargers (and others) can expose the huge roster holes that the Raiders are carrying into 2022 and beyond. This contract does not really change the team's outlook in 2022, but it is going to make it much harder for sustained success after the 2022 season.

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The Raiders are already the worst team in the division and the team that the Bolts are probably worried the least about heading into the season. However, it is still nice to see them overpay their good quarterback like he is an elite one.