The Raiders benched Derek Carr; Jarett Stidham will start against the 49ers

Kyle’s update, 11:13 AM PT: It’s official. The Raiders have benched Derek Carr:

As the 49ers' season winds down, they face two opponents out of playoff contention. The Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals came into the season with reasonable expectations yet still fell short of those goals.

The Raiders lost starting linebacker Denzel Perryman to a shoulder injury and prized free agent signing Chandler Jones to an elbow injury this past week. Both players are expected to miss Sunday’s game.

Raiders head coach Josh McDaniel has had a rough go at it during his second stint as a head coach. And, now on Sunday, he is benching his starting quarterback, Derek Carr. But, Tuesday, when asked whether he’d commit to Carr as his starter Mcdaniels had this to say:

“I think there’s a possibility that we would do the right thing regardless of the position. For us to be able to win at this time of the year and be productive, offensively, you have to throw the ball better than what we’ve thrown at times here in the last month and a half. We’ve been able to win some in spite of that, overall, but clearly, that’s not the goal. The goal would be to be more productive than what we’ve been.”

McDaniels hinted at Perryman, Jones, Carr, and other Raiders starters sitting out this game. But those comments were damning and sounded like a coach that is confident or happy about the performance of his quarterback.

McDaniels will now hand the keys to former Patriot Jarrett Stidham, who has only 61 career pass attempts in the NFL. His first career start would come against the best defense in the NFL. Best of luck, Jarrett.

The change at QB has already impacted betting odds.