The Oakland Raiders struggled to build momentum behind Carson Palmer this season.
The 33-year-old quarterback was statistically productive, but too many of his 4,018 passing yards came in garbage time for a four-win team that typically played from behind. Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said Tuesday that Palmer would battleTerrelle Pryor for the job in 2013, and coach Dennis Allen repeated that message Thursday.
"I think really what we're looking at there, I think we're going to have some competition at that position," Allen told NFL Network's "NFL AM" from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. "Carson Palmer did an outstanding job for us last year. We feel really good about Carson at the quarterback position moving forward. And obviously, we want to create competition at all levels of our team. ...
"I feel good about Carson. Terrelle did some nice things in the final game of the season last year, and so it will be interesting to see how he does moving forward."
It's hard to look glowingly at Pryor's Week 17 start. He threw for just 150 yards, but two of his passes went for touchdowns. It wasn't a disaster, but Pryor remains a project under center. Palmer is sure to stick around because of a weighty contract the Raiders can't easily escape, but the team isn't satisfied at quarterback.
The reality here is that Palmer's competition might come from beyond, through free agency or the draft.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
