Post by TheShadow on Oct 8, 2013 4:18:39 GMT -5
www.insidebayarea.com/
By Jerry McDonald
ALAMEDA -- The Raiders admitted to a $6.5 million mistake Monday, an offense for which the penalty would be much worse for general manager Reggie McKenzie were it not for the good fortune of having Terrelle Pryor dropped in his lap.
Matt Flynn, acquired last April Fool's Day to be the Raiders starting quarterback a day before Carson Palmer was shipped to the Arizona Cardinals, was released Monday.
"I don't know exactly what the reason was, it just didn't work," Raiders coach Dennis Allen said at his weekly news conference. "Terrelle came in here and took over the job. He's earned the position he's in. We just felt it was in our best interest to move on from that."
Releasing Flynn completes the transaction made with the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle gets the Raiders' fifth-round pick in 2014, and with Flynn off the Raiders roster, a conditional 2015 pick is erased.
The deal is made even worse in that McKenzie restructured Flynn's contract to deal with the salary cap this season, guaranteeing him $6.5 million in 2013.
Owner Mark Davis surely isn't happy to be paying that kind of money for a guy who was moved aside last week in favor of undrafted free agent Matt McGloin and now will be paid for sitting on a couch.
Having signed with Seattle as a free agent last year and then losing his job to Russell Wilson, Flynn was paid more than $14 million for starting exactly one game for the Seahawks and Raiders.
The saving grace for McKenzie, who was not available for comment, is the presence of Pryor. The improvement of the last pick made by Al Davis -- in the 2011 supplemental draft -- has been as remarkable as Flynn's play has been abysmal.
The Chargers win was another Pryor revelation -- an 18-for-23, 221-yard, two-touchdown performance with no turnovers that delivered a 135.7 passer rating -- the highest for the Raiders since Rich Gannon had a 138.9 in Week 3 of his MVP season in 2002.
"He's probably leaps and bounds better than we thought he'd be at this point in time," Allen said.
Flynn played his way out of the starting lineup at the end of the exhibition season, in part because of elbow tendinitis but mostly because of increasingly shaky play that included one practice sequence when he turned the ball over on three straight plays.
The Raiders were content to let him be the backup, as Seattle did the year before. That was until Flynn was put back in the lineup against Washington on Sept. 29 when Pryor was having symptoms from a concussion the previous week and things went awry.
With the help of a blocked punt for a touchdown and an 18-yard touchdown pass from Flynn to Mychal Rivera, the Raiders took a 14-0 lead. Flynn then had an interception returned for a touchdown, couldn't move the ball and lost two fumbles, and the Raiders lost 24-14.
"When Flynn got another opportunity last week and wasn't able to deliver, I think they just weren't willing to deal with it," free safety Charles Woodson said in a Sirius XM radio appearance. "It just kind of mounted up against him, and it didn't work out."
It didn't help that Flynn, perhaps understandably, wasn't putting the best face on his demotion.
That became apparent when Pryor was asked two games into the season if Flynn was the same helpful teammate he'd been in the quarterback room as the starter and said: "I can't really worry about or think about whether guys are still dwelling on stuff. I've got a job to do, and my butt's on the line."
Unless the Raiders sign a veteran quarterback, and they were reportedly to visit with David Carr, it affords fourth-round draft pick and practice squad player Tyler Wilson a chance to move up.
Given that Flynn's release has no future salary cap implications, the Raiders are out the $6.5 million and little else as Pryor's presence acts as a deodorant for a malodorous transaction.
For more on the Raiders, visit the Inside the Oakland Raiders blog at ibabuzz.com/oaklandraiders.
SUNDAY'S GAME
Raiders (2-3) at Kansas City (5-0),
10 a.m. CBS
By Jerry McDonald
ALAMEDA -- The Raiders admitted to a $6.5 million mistake Monday, an offense for which the penalty would be much worse for general manager Reggie McKenzie were it not for the good fortune of having Terrelle Pryor dropped in his lap.
Matt Flynn, acquired last April Fool's Day to be the Raiders starting quarterback a day before Carson Palmer was shipped to the Arizona Cardinals, was released Monday.
"I don't know exactly what the reason was, it just didn't work," Raiders coach Dennis Allen said at his weekly news conference. "Terrelle came in here and took over the job. He's earned the position he's in. We just felt it was in our best interest to move on from that."
Releasing Flynn completes the transaction made with the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle gets the Raiders' fifth-round pick in 2014, and with Flynn off the Raiders roster, a conditional 2015 pick is erased.
The deal is made even worse in that McKenzie restructured Flynn's contract to deal with the salary cap this season, guaranteeing him $6.5 million in 2013.
Owner Mark Davis surely isn't happy to be paying that kind of money for a guy who was moved aside last week in favor of undrafted free agent Matt McGloin and now will be paid for sitting on a couch.
Having signed with Seattle as a free agent last year and then losing his job to Russell Wilson, Flynn was paid more than $14 million for starting exactly one game for the Seahawks and Raiders.
The saving grace for McKenzie, who was not available for comment, is the presence of Pryor. The improvement of the last pick made by Al Davis -- in the 2011 supplemental draft -- has been as remarkable as Flynn's play has been abysmal.
The Chargers win was another Pryor revelation -- an 18-for-23, 221-yard, two-touchdown performance with no turnovers that delivered a 135.7 passer rating -- the highest for the Raiders since Rich Gannon had a 138.9 in Week 3 of his MVP season in 2002.
"He's probably leaps and bounds better than we thought he'd be at this point in time," Allen said.
Flynn played his way out of the starting lineup at the end of the exhibition season, in part because of elbow tendinitis but mostly because of increasingly shaky play that included one practice sequence when he turned the ball over on three straight plays.
The Raiders were content to let him be the backup, as Seattle did the year before. That was until Flynn was put back in the lineup against Washington on Sept. 29 when Pryor was having symptoms from a concussion the previous week and things went awry.
With the help of a blocked punt for a touchdown and an 18-yard touchdown pass from Flynn to Mychal Rivera, the Raiders took a 14-0 lead. Flynn then had an interception returned for a touchdown, couldn't move the ball and lost two fumbles, and the Raiders lost 24-14.
"When Flynn got another opportunity last week and wasn't able to deliver, I think they just weren't willing to deal with it," free safety Charles Woodson said in a Sirius XM radio appearance. "It just kind of mounted up against him, and it didn't work out."
It didn't help that Flynn, perhaps understandably, wasn't putting the best face on his demotion.
That became apparent when Pryor was asked two games into the season if Flynn was the same helpful teammate he'd been in the quarterback room as the starter and said: "I can't really worry about or think about whether guys are still dwelling on stuff. I've got a job to do, and my butt's on the line."
Unless the Raiders sign a veteran quarterback, and they were reportedly to visit with David Carr, it affords fourth-round draft pick and practice squad player Tyler Wilson a chance to move up.
Given that Flynn's release has no future salary cap implications, the Raiders are out the $6.5 million and little else as Pryor's presence acts as a deodorant for a malodorous transaction.
For more on the Raiders, visit the Inside the Oakland Raiders blog at ibabuzz.com/oaklandraiders.
SUNDAY'S GAME
Raiders (2-3) at Kansas City (5-0),
10 a.m. CBS