INDIANAPOLIS - The Raiders’ wonderful season ended with a whimper.

So what did Jack Del Rio take away from his team’s final chapter? The head coach offered a weak smile.

“Don’t lose your quarterback,” he said. “You don’t want that to happen.”

Indeed, the Raiders, who went 12-3 with Derek Carr, went 0-2 after he broke his leg Christmas Eve. In their final defeat, they managed a season-low 203 yards and rookie quarterback Connor Cook threw three interceptions in a 27-14 wild-card loss to the Texans.

The ending prompted an obvious question Thursday at the NFL combine: Do the Raiders need to have “backup QB” on their offseason shopping list? Del Rio expressed confidence in Cook, a fourth-round pick who played well in the regular-season finale before his playoff flop.

“We want to develop Connor Cook first as our backup quarterback,” Del Rio said. “He’s the guy we know we have right now. There’s always competition in this league. I wouldn’t close the door there, either, and say that we wouldn’t make it competitive for him. He did a pretty solid job developing throughout the year.”

And the same could be said for the Raiders, who had their first winning season since 2002 and their most wins since 2000.

As a result, owner Mark Davis tore up Del Rio’s original four-year contract last month and replaced it with a new four-your deal.

On Thursday, Del Rio said he appreciated that Davis followed through on his 2015 pledge to revise his underwhelming contract once the Raiders emerged from the depths.

“I bet on me on the contract,” Del Rio said. “It wasn’t a very good contract to start with, but it was an opportunity. And I bet on our ability to get this thing turned around and I feel like we have.”

The Raiders’ turnaround could make them an attract free-agent destination, a laughable notion a few years ago.

Del Rio was asked about reports that running back Adrian Peterson has the Raiders among the teams on his wish list. This week, the Vikings announced they will not exercise Peterson’s $18 million option for 2017. As a result, Peterson, 31, will be an unrestricted free agent Thursday.

“I think it’s great that we’re on the list of guys that are premier guys,” Del Rio said. “… The message I get is that players and coaches and people recognize that this is a good place to be. That we have turned this thing around.

“When I first arrived three years ago, the thought was that no one wants to come here. We battled through that, became a place where people wanted to come and over the last two years, we’ve been able to attract some nice free agents.”

The Raiders figure to address their running-back position in the offseason. Latavius Murray, their leading rusher the past two seasons, is scheduled to become a free agent and is unlikely to return.

Del Rio was asked if DeAndre Washington or Jalen Richard, who combined for 970 yards averaged 5.6 yards a carry as rookies last year, were ready to assume the lead-back role.

“We’ll just see,” Del Rio said. “That’s always a fluid situation. We’re not closing the door on anybody. There are a lot of players on our roster and we’d love to have them all back. It doesn’t always work that way. We’ll work through it the best we can, try to remain in contact with all of our players, and retain those we can.”

The Raiders’ offense could be tweaked, but it should be among the NFL’s best with Carr back at the controls.

His importance to the Raiders was made clear last season, which means it’s possible the best news Del Rio has heard recently didn’t concern his extension.

On Thursday, he noted his franchise quarterback is doing just fine.

“Everything that I’ve seen and hear is he’s on track or even ahead of schedule,” Del Rio said. “We expect a complete recovery and no issues.”

Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch