Raiders’ Derek Carr challenges TV hosts to fight for questioning his desire

Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr heard his commitment to his team was being questioned on national TV and responded in a mature, level-headed manner.

He contacted UFC president Dana White about arranging a fight in the octagon with the offending TV hosts.

On Wednesday’s episode of ESPN’s “First Take,” co-host Max Kellerman speculated that the Raiders might want to trade their fifth-year quarterback after this year’s 4-12 season. At one point, Kellerman seemed to suggest that Carr had lost his competitive edge.

Alerted that he was being criticized on TV, Carr first tweeted that he’d like to break down film with Kellerman and co-host Stephen A. Smith “just to show their viewers how incompetent (lacking qualification) they are about our game.”

Then he thought of a different approach. That’s when he reached out to White and UFC.

“Hey how do I challenge a couple of these clowns on tv to a fight?” Carr tweeted. “I think we should start a business together. Where pro athletes can challenge some of these people to an octagon fight.”

Carr might have been kidding about the fight — or he may have cooled off after a while. He did repeat the idea in another tweet about an hour later, but this time he added winking and laughing-until-crying emojis.

Carr also didn’t bring up the octagon idea while being interviewed Thursday morning on ESPN’s “Golic & Wingo.” But he did have plenty to say about Kellerman and his comments.

“He said something where he questioned my desire and want-to. This man has never talked to me in my entire life. This man has never worked out with me, never woken up early with me to study, to go and play hurt and all these kinds of things,” said Carr, who completed a career-high 68.9% of his passes and went 10 straight games without having a pass intercepted this season.

“You can say whatever you want about performance and all that, that’s his job and I understand that. But when you start talking about a man’s character and want-to and desire, that’s just a different story. And I don’t think there’s anybody holding these guys accountable when they go off on those kinds of tangents.”

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Twitter: @chewkiii