You may recal,l late last month, that we discussed the situation surrounding the Oakland Raiders and their star quarterback Derek Carr. He entered this upcoming season in the final year of his original rookie contract. The former Fresno State product was a second-round pick in 2014 and wound up starting every game his debut season. In 47 regular-season outings, he has thrown for 11,194 yards, 81 scores and just 31 interceptions.

While last season ended abruptly for the three-year pro due to a broken leg in Week 16, he wound up throwing 28 TD passes and was picked off only six times while completing a career-best 63.8 percent of his throws.

Carr was entering the final stanza of a four-year, $5.371 million deal. That’s not much money considering his rapid improvement, as well as he was the main force behind the team’s resurgence. The Raiders reached the playoffs in ’16 for the first time since 2002. You will also recall that (via Jimmy Durkin of the East Bay Times) that general manager Reggie McKenzie stated: “I want Derek Carr to be a Raider for his career.”

The particulars

Which brings us to June 22.

And now the Oakland Raiders (via NFL Network’s Insider Ian Rapoport) have inked Carr to a five-year contract extension. Rapoport reports that $40 million of the deal is fully guaranteed. Via sources, the contract has a total of $70 million in guaranteed money. It puts the three-year signal-caller under contract with the Silver And Black through 2022. Via Twitter, Carr released the following statement: “Now it's done! From the jump I've wanted to be a Raider 4 life. One step closer to that! Blessed!!! Business done! Let's just play now!!!”

What it means

A franchise that hasn’t won an NFL championship since 1983 (when it was based in Los Angeles) now has some piece of mind when it comes to its future, at least on the field.

We know that down the road that the Oakland Raiders are headed to Las Vegas. And with this long-term deal for Carr, they apparently feel like they have already hit the jackpot when it comes to their team. In 2016, Jack Del Rio’s team scored 46 offensive touchdowns but the defensive unit surrendered 45 such scores. An Oakland team that finished 12-4 only outscored its opponents by a combined 31 points (416-385). For now, the Silver and Black is far too dependent on its offense (which added running Back Marshawn Lynch and tight end Jared Cook) and the quarterback. And perhaps that’s why this deal got done sooner than later. In any case, for Derek Carr, it was richly deserved.