The Oakland Raiders saw the NFL franchise quarterback potential in Derek Carr against the San Francisco 49ers that made them draft him.

Derek Carr was selected with the 36th overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, and the Oakland Raiders immediately saw enough from him to plug him in as the starting quarterback over Matt Schaub. He has had an up-and-down season so far, but has some some flashes of being the franchise quarterback that the Raiders are desperately hoping that he can become.

On Sunday afternoon against the San Francisco 49ers in a huge rivalry game, Carr played perhaps the best game of his career and showed the full franchise quarterback potential that they have been looking to see.

He finished the game completing 22 of his 28 passing attempts for 254 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Those are the type of numbers that the Raiders need from him, and he led his team past the highly favored 49ers by a final score of 24-13.

At just 23 years of age there is plenty of time for him to grow into an even better quarterback, and there are reasons to explain his early season struggles. Carr showed the coaching staff immediately after joining the team in training camp and preseason action that he has all of the tools to be the future at quarterback. There have been times throughout the season where Raiders fans have been discouraged, but this type of win makes up for a lot of that disappointment.

FanSided’s own Chase Ruttig of Just Blog Baby took a deep look at Carr’s game against San Francisco, and it is definitely worth a read as well.

Perhaps the most important thing that Carr showed against the 49ers was poise in the pocket and excellent decision making. It is very easy for a rookie quarterback to get carried away in the moment and turn the football over or get down on himself early in the game. Carr was extremely patient and made the right passes at the right time, and focused completely on taking care of the football.

San Francisco was expecting to walk all over the Raiders, but Carr’s play kept that from happening. Oakland may not be a Super Bowl contender anytime soon, but they may have found the long-term quarterback that they have been searching for over the past few seasons.

This type of performance is huge for a rookie quarterbacks confidence moving forward, and perhaps now he will take the next step. He will have another chance to prove himself to the Raiders’ organization and the NFL next week against the Kansas City Chiefs on the road.

Throughout the season thus far, Carr has thrown for 2,676 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. They aren’t huge numbers, but they are extremely solid and the low turnover number is huge to see for Oakland. It is fairly obvious that they have found their quarterback moving forward, and he will have to completely collapse to lose the job heading into next season.

Expectations are high in Oakland with the emergence of Carr this season, and rightfully so. There hasn’t been a quarterback worthy of excitement in town for a long time, and Carr appears to be the man who will change that for the franchise. Oakland’s future hasn’t looked brighter than it does now in a long time, and Sunday’s win over the 49ers took the franchise’s trust in Carr to a new level.