Raiders pack up, look to next season

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Derek Carr awoke to his alarm clock Monday and sensed that something was wrong.

“I felt like I was late and started freaking out,” he said. “I ran downstairs — and it was kind of over.”

Then he figured out that the alarm was set “at a time it hasn’t been set at for about eight months,” the Raiders’ quarterback said before loading equipment into a cardboard box in the locker room.

A 7-9 season that was disappointing but with many signs of a promising future was over. “I definitely don’t plan on it ending this soon for the rest of my career,” Carr said.

Like several other Raiders, Carr said he thought the team should have made the playoffs. “But we didn’t earn it,” he said.

The undercurrent in the locker room was that the team could be playing in Los Angeles next season. The players are as eager as anybody to find out where they’ll be playing. The team, along with the Rams and Chargers, is waiting to see who’ll wind up in the Los Angeles market. A decision from NFL owners could come as early as next week.

“This is where I’ve played, so I love Oakland,” Carr said. “I love our fans. But I know that Raider Nation is everywhere. It doesn’t matter what (city) is put in front of it, we’re always the Raiders.”

“I can’t control anything as far as that goes,” center Rodney Hudson said. “I was told years ago to control what you can control, so I don’t really think about that.”

In his second year, Carr nearly reached 4,000 yards passing (3,987) with 32 touchdowns against 13 interceptions.

KANSAS CITY, MO - JANUARY 3: David Amerson #29 of the Oakland Raiders intercepts a pass in front of Albert Wilson #12 of the Kansas City Chiefs, returning it for a touchdown at Arrowhead Stadium during the second quarter on January 3, 2016 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) less KANSAS CITY, MO - JANUARY 3: David Amerson #29 of the Oakland Raiders intercepts a pass in front of Albert Wilson #12 of the Kansas City Chiefs, returning it for a touchdown at Arrowhead Stadium during the ... more Photo: Jamie Squire, Getty Images Photo: Jamie Squire, Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Raiders pack up, look to next season 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Asked if he would take some time to decompress, he said with a smile, “Since my strength coaches are probably listening, I’ll say two weeks.” Then he admitted he probably would do some training later in the day. “That’s just in my DNA,” he said.

Unlike last offseason, he’ll have the same head coach and essentially the same skill-position players with whom to work this offseason. There’s a lot to be said for continuity, he said.

The consistently good offenses “were always together,” he said. He won’t need to wait until June or July, just before training camp, to work with his receivers. “The more we can be together,” Carr noted, “the more we can play together and grow, the better that we’re going to be.”

Offensive tackle Donald Penn, an unrestricted free agent, indicated he hopes to be back. “You have to look at all the improvements we made,” he said. “You have to look at our rankings as a team in statistical categories. We made tremendous jumps in everything.”

One of those improvements was that Latavius Murray rushed for 1,066 yards. “To me, it didn’t feel like a 1,000-yard season,’’ he said. “There were games where there was absolutely nothing, so for me, I just know I want to get better.”

The offense struggled down the stretch. “I think mainly it’s us beating ourselves, whether it was turnovers or not staying on the field, not converting, sustaining drives,” Murray said. “I think we’ll get better, clean it up and not beat ourselves.”

Charles Woodson’s retirement leaves a gaping hole in the secondary, the players acknowledged. “You’re losing a legend, man,” cornerback David Amerson said. “But he definitely taught the secondary a lot. We’ve just got to take that through the season and throughout our careers and strive from it.’’

Injured safety Nate Allen said he learned from Woodson “the most I’ve learned from anybody’’ in his career. “Just sitting there watching him day in and day out in meetings and practice, picking his mind here and there.”

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald