ALAMEDA, Calif. – The education of Terrelle Pryor as an NFL quarterback will include a tutorial by the last Raiders player to win the league’s Most Valuable Player award.
“We’re in contact with Rich Gannon, and we’re going to get together with him,” Pryor said Wednesday after the second day of practice at the Raiders’ mandatory minicamp.
Contacted by phone, Gannon said Pryor reached out to him last season about the possibility of a meeting. A return message wound up in Pryor’s spam folder, and Gannon confirmed the two will meet at some point before the Raiders report for training camp in Napa on July 29.
“It’s not like all of a sudden he’s going to come out, work with me for a day and throw for 5,000 yards,” Gannon said. “That’s not how it works. But I’m always anxious to go out and work with someone who wants to get better, whether it’s a guy who plays for the Raiders, the Jets, or whoever.”
Gannon’s schedule includes working the Green Bay Packers’ exhibition games _ where he met current Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie _ as well as being an NFL analyst for CBS and being co-host on a Sirius NFL radio show.
Gannon, the NFL’s MVP in 2002, has no interest in coaching but has volunteered his services to the Raiders in the past, with the club turning a deaf ear because of comments Gannon made that were construed as critical of the organization and late owner Al Davis.
Pryor struggled with some of his passes at minicamp _ several of his deeper throws wobbled noticeably _ but he also showed a nice touch on intermediate and swing routes, and his sub-4.4 speed in the 40-yard dash is stunning to watch when he breaks out of the pocket.
He hopes to compete with offseason free-agent signee Matt Leinart to be the backup for starter Carson Palmer.
“I’m working hard every day. Sometimes it’s not the best days,” Pryor said. “I’m still learning a new offense. I’m not taking a lot of reps. When I’m just taking certain reps, it’s just not crisp right now. After I get a couple of reps I should be fine.”
So far, coach Dennis Allen has seen the kind of work ethic necessary to be a successful NFL quarterback _ the same kind of work ethic that made Gannon a Raiders locker room leader.
“He’s made progress, but he’s still a long way away,” Allen said of Pryor. ‘The thing that I’ve liked about him has been his demeanor and the way he’s been willing to work and get better. As long as he does that, he’s got enough athletic talent that eventually he’s going to become a player.”
Pryor said he hopes to blend plays from the schemes of quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo and offensive coordinator Greg Knapp to review with Gannon.
“Obviously I’m going to take the playbook and grab a couple of receivers, maybe some younger high school guys, maybe some NFL guys and just run the script that I have and have them run the same routes and go through my reads,” Pryor said. “(I) can’t get that enough. Like I said, I don’t take a lot of reps so I have to rep it by myself; even if it has to be with a ghost to do my footsteps, that’s what I’ll have to do. I’ll get better. I’ll be working hard.”
Gannon, who like Pryor was an athletic quarterback in college (at Delaware) whom some teams saw as a wide receiver, acknowledged the prospect’s stunning gifts but noted the beginning of his NFL career has been less than ideal.
Taken in the supplemental draft by Davis last year out of Ohio State, Pryor first served a five-game suspension and was a nonfactor as a rookie.
“He’s in a tough spot,” Gannon said. “The guy who hand-picked him is no longer around. They brought in Leinart. Just as he’s getting used to one playbook, they hand him another one. … He’s a good guy. He wants to do the work. Wants to get better. Those are the guys you can’t say no to.”
– Wide receiver Denarius Moore missed practice with a right hamstring strain and won’t practice Thursday but will be ready for training camp, Allen said. Defensive tackle Travis Ivey is out with a concussion suffered during a weight lifting session. Linebacker Aaron Curry sat out practice as a precautionary measure because of sore knees.
