After his first practice as an Oakland Raider, wide receiver Devon Wylie spent time with quarterback Derek Carr working on routes, and then after the rest of his teammates returned to the locker room, he stayed on the field running sprints.
"I have to pick up the momentum of camp," said Wylie when he finally returned from the field. "The first couple of drills, I could feel a little bit of rustiness, but then as one-on-ones went on, I picked it back up."
Wylie's extra work isn't all that surprising for a player now battling to make an NFL roster, but it becomes more impressive when you take into account his last 24 hours.
After working out for another NFL team over the weekend, Wylie flew into Los Angeles to visit a friend and then carpooled back to Bakersfield Monday evening.
It was there that he got a phone call from the Raiders asking him to be in Napa by 7:00 am Tuesday.
Stranded in Bakersfield without a car, and unable to take public transit home, Wylie took an Uber four-and-a-half hours to his home in Sacramento, and four hours later he was en route to Napa to join the Silver and Black.
"It's cool and rewarding to know that people still want to see how you look in camp," Wylie said. "It's really cool and I'm super grateful to be out here."
When the Sacramento, Calif.,-native joined the team Tuesday morning, he was greeted by a few familiar faces from his football past, namely Carr and rookie wide receiver Josh Harper.
Wylie and Carr played together at Fresno State from 2009-11, with Wylie even teaching the young quarterback a thing or two on the guitar.
"He [Carr] lived in the apartments next to me," Wylie explained. "He would come over and we'd play acoustic together. I taught him a couple of things and then he kind of just took off with it on his own."
Wylie said he hadn't seen Carr since their time together as Bulldogs, he was pleasantly surprised to see that even though he's now a starting quarterback, nothing has changed as far as Carr's demeanor is concerned.
"If you want to go to an organization, you want to see familiar faces, especially when it's the head quarterback," Wylie said. "He's such a cool guy, super down to earth and he's always been the same, really good person. It's super cool to come back and see the same guy."
Since being selected in the fourth round (No. 107 overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft, Wylie has played for four teams, primarily as a special teams contributor and kick returner, and when asked about his skillset, one word came up – versatility.
"It's definitely versatility," Wylie said. "You can throw me at receiver. You can throw me in the return game. Teams need a guy with versatility and you can't just throw anybody back at returner, you have to have a guy that has that certain skillset. I feel like I bring that skillset of return, adding return depth."
With a deep group of receivers, Wylie knows that he'll be competing for a spot at the bottom of the Raiders depth chart, but regardless of how many reps he sees, he's determined to make the most of his time in Silver and Black.
"I'm totally grateful," Wylie said. "It's cool to get another chance when you almost see hope fading, and then a team calls and boom, it's like, 'oh shoot, let's go. I'm pumped.'"
