Terrelle Pryor claims that before this season he never knew how to throw a football properly. Well, all of that must be changing because the quarterback is impressing coaches every day during training camp. In a battle to simply remain on the roster, Pryor is proving to be an excellent option for a duel-threat quarterback and head coach Dennis Allen is noticing.
With a week of training camp under his belt, Pryor is showing off improved mechanics after working with both Tom Brady and Drew Brees' throwing coach. The quarterback told the media that the Raiders have been working on a package of plays for him to run, taking advantage of his skill set and ability to embrace the pistol formation.
"The packages we're talking about have a lot to do with our offense," Pryor said, via Scott Bair of CSN Bay Area. "We're still going down the field with the ball. We're still throwing timing routes. It's just a package to get me on the field, and run the same plays that Matt Flynn, Tyler Wilson and Matt McGloin are running. It's the same stuff. It's just me, that and some pistol stuff. Stuff like that."
Pryor offers a skill set becoming embraced as the new trend of the NFL. He is mobile and can throw on his feet. He is a very different quarterback than the others on the roster right now. Many believed that Pryor could be at risk of not making the final cut in Oakland, but as the team begins to open up the playbook more, he is seeing an opportunity to shine.
"I feel phenomenal. Obviously, there are things that I need to get better at and no one's perfect and you've got to get better at something. I'm just taking one day at a time and it's understanding what I want to go into each day what I want to get better at," Pryor said.
As Pryor takes a step forward, rookie quarterback Tyler Wilson is taking a step back. After shining during offseason workouts, Wilson has struggled so far in training camp. Matt Flynn is the starter for the team, so a battle for backup has come down to Wilson, McGloin and Pryor. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Wilson has been losing more and more snaps to McGloin every day.
Allen said that at this moment, Wilson is behind "from a mental standpoint." While that statement is very vague, it could mean that Wilson is on the practice squad and McGloin is in uniform. Things are likely to change each week, but right now Pryor is doing everything possible to see more playing time this season.