Earlier this month, Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor told SI.com that he thought about quitting football last year. Pryor has now abandoned talk of abandoning the game.
“I’m not going to talk about that,” Pryor said to Jerry McDonald of InsideBayArea.com. “That’s in the past.”
What’s in the future for Pryor is a desire to play. But his agenda is confusing. He concedes the starting job to Carson Palmer, but Pryor insists that he won’t be a backup.
“Carson is the starter and he’s going to be the starter,” Pryor said. “But I don’t put myself as I’m going to be [a] backup. I mean, I don’t sit around saying, ‘I want to be a backup, that’s what I want to be.’ That’s not how I operate. That’s not how I want to be. I’m going to work to play. And Carson’s always played well and always will. Whenever the opportunity comes for me to play, I’ll play. But I’m not planning to be a back-up. Get that correct.”
How can McDonald or anyone else get that correct when Pryor can’t? If Palmer “is the starter and he’s going to be the starter,” then Pryor necessarily will be a backup.
Unless he plans to change positions (personal punt protector, anyone?), a concept he previously has rejected, Pryor will be a backup.