Derek Carr declines to talk to the media on Saturday

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Several Raiders players spoke to reporters on Saturday, in the aftermath of the stunning-but-not-surprising release of receiver Antonio Brown. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, per Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com, declined to speak.

Added Gutierrez regarding Carr: “His slumped shoulders and hound-dog countenance as he sat at his stall and scrolled through his phone said enough.” (Tread lighly, Paul; Carr has blocked people on Twitter for less than that.)

In a weird sort of way, Brown’s depature actually helps Carr. The quarterback is now under far less pressure to get the ball to Brown, whether he’s covered or not. And Carr is far less likely to be blamed if/when the Raiders fail to make it to the playoffs, again.

Regardless, Carr won’t be able to avoid reporters on Monday night after the game against the Broncos, unless Carr is willing to run afoul of the NFL’s media rules and potentially get himself fined.

Without Carr taking leadership in the moment, someone else had to. That someone was linebacker and defensive captain Tahir Whitehead.

“I’ve got to worry about the guys that are here, the guys that are invested in the team and the guys that want to go on this journey with us,” Whitehead said, via Gutierrez. “We tried to be there for him and support [Brown], but at the end of the day, the most we can do is focus on the guys that want to be here and just roll with that.

“He didn’t want to be here and we tried to support him, but at the end of the day, the rest of the guys in here were thinking team first and if, obviously, you didn’t possess that type of mentality, then it’s not going to work out.”

Linebacker Vontaze Burfict, named a defensive captain in his first year with the Raiders, was more direct.

“AB’s not tackling for us; we’re playing defense, so our job is to go out there and stop them from scoring, and that’s all we’ve got on our plate,” Burfict said. “AB was our teammate — hate to see him gone, praying for him. Hopefully he gets everything cleaned up. He’s a great football player, but like I said, we’re worried about Monday.”

Finally, the Raiders can fully focus on Monday night’s game, and every game after that.