Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio recently dubbed soon-to-be second-year quarterback Derek Carr "a special young talent."
While it remains to be seen just how accurate that statement is - though Carr did plenty to provide hope in his rookie season - Carr himself seems to feel the same way.
Young NFL players and especially quarterbacks, often talk about the increased speed of the game at the professional level and needing a period of adjustment in order to be able to handle it.
Not so for Carr.
"Sometimes, the games were really slow for me," Carr said, per ESPN. "It was almost like I was waiting for it to speed up."
It sounds like the games and, more specifically, the Raiders offense will be speeding up for Carr next season - a change he's all too happy to embrace.
"My last two years at Fresno State were 100 percent no-huddle, and I love it. I'm very comfortable in it," Carr said. "They are building this offense around me, and I'm really excited about it. I lit up when they told me."
New offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, who spent last season as the quarterbacks coach with the Philadelphia Eagles under Chip Kelly, is a proponent of an up-tempo, no-huddle attack - a scheme Carr feels perfectly suits his playing style.
"We want to play fast," Carr said. "We want to put pressure on the defense. We want to go 100 miles per hour and cause confusion for the defense. It can be a lot of fun."
Another element of changing to an up-tempo scheme which excites Carr is the increased chances he'll have to run the ball, with defenses off balance and unprepared for the threat of his mobility.
Carr ran for 92 yards on 29 carries last season, numbers he expects to jump significantly next year.
"What we want to do is be able to be conditioned so we can take advantage in the fourth quarter," Carr said. "That's what our goal was in college, and it worked really well for us. When the game is on the line, we want to be the team that is being able to run and controlling the game by pushing the tempo."
With the team expected to add an impact wideout and potentially add a running back or two, the Raiders offense will most likely look very different next season.
