Tom Pelissero

USA TODAY

The Oakland Raiders weren’t taking any chances with Matt McGloin back in March.

They put a second-round restricted tender on their No. 2 quarterback, eliminating the possibility another team could sign McGloin without the Raiders receiving compensation.

Added cost: a little less than $900,000, which would certainly be money well spent if McGloin can do enough in place of injured MVP candidate Derek Carr to keep the Raiders’ magical season from falling apart with Carr’s broken fibula.

They’re 12-3, on the way to the playoffs for the first time since 2002, in position to secure a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs … and turning to a onetime Penn State walk-on who hasn’t started a regular-season NFL game in three years.

McGloin, 27, never signed an offer sheet from another team, which the Raiders would’ve had the right to match or receive a second-round pick if they didn’t. (Had they given McGloin the low tender, they would’ve received nothing if he signed an offer sheet and they didn’t match, since he was undrafted in 2013.)

Raiders QB Derek Carr out indefinitely with broken fibula

The numbers – eight touchdown passes, eight interceptions and a 76.1 passer rating – weren’t off the charts in McGloin’s six starts (one win) for a terrible Raiders team as a rookie in 2013 after an injury to Terrelle Pryor. But this is a QB-deficient league in which Brock Osweiler can get $37 million fully guaranteed from the Houston Texans off of seven starts in Denver and the Los Angeles Rams can be scared enough of losing Case Keenum that he gets the first-round tender. Protecting anybody you think can play the most important position is good business.

Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie’s willingness to pay McGloin about $2.559 million this season – top-10 backup quarterback money – demonstrated the team’s belief in him and the value he brought to the QB room with Carr, 25, who had bounced back in a big way from his regression late last season before Saturday’s crushing injury.

The alternatives would’ve been to spend $2 million on a veteran backup such as Matt Cassel, who’s taking over in Tennessee after Marcus Mariota suffered a similar issue to Carr’s on Sunday, or back up Carr with a rookie such as Connor Cook, the Raiders’ fourth-round pick who now figures as the No. 2 behind McGloin.

Raiders coach Jack Del Rio said Carr is out indefinitely and the odds seem strong the injury will end his season, no matter how long the team extends it.

The hope isn’t for McGloin to be Carr, though McGloin did connect on a big third-down strike as the Raiders iced Sunday’s win over the Indianapolis Colts. They’ll lean on a very good offensive line, two top receivers, a solid back and an improving defense led by elite edge player Khalil Mack, keeping games from falling on McGloin’s shoulders.

Frankly, if McGloin were anywhere close to Carr’s caliber, the tender wouldn’t have stopped somebody from coming after him in March. But the Raiders made the decision then that McGloin was a guy that could help them get by in a pinch, and they’re about to find out if they were right.

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