ALAMEDA Womens Derek Carr Jersey , Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Raiders are bringing back free agent running back Doug Martin for a second season.The Raiders also released tight end Lee Smith and signed five draft picks to contracts Thursday.Oakland finalized the deal with the 30-year-old Martin after Isaiah Crowell reportedly went down with an Achilles injury earlier this week. Martin had 172 carries for 723 yards and four touchdowns for the Raiders last season. His return gives the Raiders a veteran back behind rookie first-round pick Josh Jacobs.Smith joined the Raiders as an unrestricted free agent in 2015 and was let go after the team drafted Foster Moreau in the fourth round last week. Smith played 51 games for Oakland, with 36 receptions for 248 yards with four touchdowns.The Raiders signed Moreau, fourth-round defensive end Maxx Crosby, fourth-round cornerback Isaiah Johnson, fifth-round receiver Hunter Renfrow and seventh-round defensive end Quinton Bell. The Raiders are committed to Derek Carr. Unless they aren’t.The more accurate statement would be “until they aren’t,” because G.M. Mike Mayock made it clear on Thursday that Carr will continue as the team’s quarterback for as long as the team believe that it’s in the team’s best interests to do so.“Derek Carr is a franchise quarterback, and we believe that,” Mayock said Thursday. “Beyond that, just like at any other position Gareon Conley Jersey , we’re going to do our due diligence. If we found somebody we liked better, or thought had a bigger upside, you’ve got to do the right thing for the organization.”That’s the closest anyone with the Raiders has come to telling the truth regarding the manner in which the Raiders regard Carr. And that may be news to Carr, who apparently bristled via Twitter at the mere news of a private workout with incoming rookie Kyler Murray and who presumably has received far different messages from Gruden privately.Indeed, Gruden has sent far different messages regarding Carr publicly.“He’s our franchise quarterback. Let me make that clear,” Gruden said at the Scouting Combine in February.“I’m glad he’s our quarterback,” Gruden said during the 2018 season, after Gruden and Carr engaged in a heated sideline exchange.“Yeah, he’s going to be our quarterback Johnathan Hankins Jersey ,” Gruden said last month, at the annual league meetings. “I’m not going to address all the rumors. I could care less about the rumors, you know?”But the rumors linger, and Mayock’s comments will do nothing to quell them. Mayock could have said that, for example, the Raiders worked out Murray and Dwayne Haskins so that the Raiders would be able to properly value those players in the event an opportunity arises to trade the right to draft one of both of them, by moving down in round one from the fourth overall pick. Mayock didn’t say that, however. He said that the Raiders are looking at alternatives to Carr because “f we found somebody we liked better, or thought had a bigger upside Bo Jackson Jersey , you’ve got to do the right thing for the organization.”So, basically, the Raiders like Carr enough to keep him. Until they find someone they like better. And that could happen in as soon as 13 days, when the Raiders use any of the three first-round picks they hold in the 2019 draft.If there was any ambiguity about that before, there shouldn’t be now. Meanwhile, I’m going to go check Carr’s Twitter feed.