Jarrett Stidham: ‘Most fun I’ve had playing football in a long time’

With Jarrett Stidham set to become a free agent after this season, his performance in his first NFL start on Sunday had the potential to perk up interest by quarterback-hungry teams that might not have been there previously, when the former Auburn standout had played in 11 games and thrown 61 passes across four NFL campaigns.

The Las Vegas Raiders benched nine-year starter Derek Carr to give Stidham an opportunity at quarterback over the final two games of the 2022 season.

Although Las Vegas lost to the San Francisco 49ers 37-34 in overtime and he threw an interception in the fourth quarter and another in overtime, Stidham delivered one of the best first starts statistically for a quarterback in NFL history on Sunday.

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Stidham completed 23-of-34 passes for 365 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions and ran for 34 yards on seven carries. He posted the most passing yards for a first-time starter in franchise history as he became the sixth NFL player with at least 365 in his first start. Stidham became the second player with at least 350 passing yards and three touchdown passes in his first NFL start.

But Stidham said he’s not looking past Las Vegas’ regular-season finale.

“I’m just focused on this week,” Stidham said on Wednesday. “We have really three-and-half days, four days left in the season, and that’s really all I’m focused on — doing the best that I can for the guys in the locker room, doing what my role is, what my job is and that’s all I can really do right now. Just try and give my best effort the next four days and leave it all out there on the field on Saturday.”

Stidham also said he’s looking forward to Start No. 2 on Saturday as much as he did Start No. 1.

“It’s just as exciting,” Stidham said. “Any time you get to go out and play football, it’s exciting. That’s how I look at it. It’s another opportunity against a great football team.”

And that’s even after Stidham called Start No. 1 “a great moment” for him.

“As a kid, you grow up wanting to be an NFL starter, and there’s little milestones that you hit along the way or I’ve hit along the way,” Stidham said. “There’s starting on varsity at quarterback, then getting recruited and starting your first game in college — just little milestones you try and hit along the way. Obviously, still the ultimate goal is playing in the NFL, so it was definitely, looking back on it, it was definitely a great moment. Didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to, obviously, but that’s the great thing about this week. We have another opportunity to try and go out there and get a win.”

In his first start, Stidham went up against the NFL’s No. 1 defense. In his second, he and the Raiders will try to outscore the league’s No. 1 offense when the Kansas City Chiefs visit Allegiant Stadium.

“Every team wants to win every game,” Stidham said. “Unfortunately, that’s not the way things work, but you got 17 opportunities in the regular season to make things work, and we want to try to end this year on the right note and go into the offseason feeling good about where we’re at. And that’s what we’re going to try and do — just do our job and do the best we can to go out there, make plays, make plays for each other and ultimately try and come away with a win.”

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The Chiefs and Raiders kick off the final weekend of the NFL’s 2022 regular season at 3:30 p.m. CST Saturday in Las Vegas. ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes will televise the game.

The Raiders enter their finale with a 6-10 record. Kansas City has the AFC’s best record at 13-3 and is trying to close out the conference’s No. 1 seed for the playoffs.

Stidham would like to help deliver an upset for his teammates.

“All year long these guys have been great,” Stidham said. “We have a tremendous locker room, tremendous support staff, coaching staff. This has been probably the most fun I’ve had playing football in a long time. And like I said, it’s really just about the people. It’s always good to be around really good people.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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