New Oakland Raiders head coach Dennis Allen said Friday he was confident quarterback Carson Palmer was athletic enough to fit in offensive coordinator Greg Knapp's system, which often requires the quarterback to move out of the pocket.
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The 32-year-old Palmer mostly has worked as a traditional drop-back passer since entering the NFL in 2003. Allen, however, said Palmer would be able to run many of the same plays that Knapp will bring over from his time with the Houston Texans.
"We're not going to force-feed something if it doesn't fit what a guy does really well," Allen said Friday, via to the San Francisco Chronicle. " ... But I do think when you look at Carson Palmer, that he does have the same type of athleticism. He's as athletic as (Texans quarterback) Matt Schaub, who they had in Houston, to really be able to run that same package."
Allen also said he aims to tone down the organization's longstanding emphasis on player speed in scouting.
"If you got two guys that when you look at the tape, these guys are about the same football-playing-wise, well let's take the faster guy," Allen said. "But we're not going to take guys just because they run real fast because that doesn't correlate to being a good football player."
