When Terrelle Pryor made his first NFL reception, the man who drafted him wasn’t around to see it.

It was a flea-flicker pass against the Carolina Panthers that went for 22 yards on Dec. 23, 2013, and it played no part in a 17-6 road loss by the Raiders.

“Carson Palmer threw it to me,” Pryor said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It was a trick play. It was pretty sweet to get in the game and do something.”

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It was from that humble beginning that the last man Davis ever drafted began a circuitous route to a career as a wide receiver. It started the moment the Raiders selected Pryor as a quarterback out of Ohio State with a third-round pick in the supplemental draft on Aug. 23, 2011.

Davis died 46 days later, but not before bonding with Pryor. In failing health, Davis was a hushed voice on a cell phone and Pryor said he took it all in over the course of about 10 conversations.

Pryor, in his first year with Washington after a breakout season in Cleveland at wide receiver, takes his legacy of being Davis’ last draft pick seriously. For complete Oakland Raiders coverage follow us on Flipboard.

“It means the world to me,” Pryor said. “He was a special guy. I had a marvelous time during the time I spent talking to him. It was a short time, but I learned a lot about the game.”

As the supplemental draft approached, Raiders scout Jon Kingdon was wondering if Pryor would be a Raider at all. Kingdon was having trouble reaching Davis in a draft conducted by conference call and was starting to worry.

Kingdon and fellow scouts Bruce Kebric and Calvin Branch had agreed on a fourth-round grade for Pryor. The problem was the Raiders had no fourth-round pick in the 2012 regular draft, having traded it for quarterback Jason Campbell, so they weren’t eligible to pick in that round in the supplemental version.

There was concern Pryor wouldn’t last until the fifth round, so Kingdon recommended using their third-around pick in 2012.

And Davis couldn’t be reached for final authorization.

About 15 minutes before the draft, Kingdon finally had Davis on the line.

“He said, `OK, we’ll take him in the third,’ ” Kingdon said.

So the Raiders had Pryor. Even if they never could decide what to do with him.

Kingdon, who along with Kebric was let go in May of 2012, said the plan was to give Pryor a chance to realize his dream as a quarterback. Kebric thought if quarterback didn’t work out, Pryor looked like a bigger, faster and more talented version of Ronald Curry — a former college quarterback who became the Raiders leading receiver in 2006 and 2007.

A complicating factor was a five-game suspended handed down by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for Pryor having swapped memorabilia for tattoos while at Ohio State.

Once Pryor was back, coach Hue Jackson, who had championed the supplemental pick, left the rookie on the sideline. Options to use Pryor’s exceptional athletic skill, such as a wild cat or red zone quarterback or occasional downs as a receiver for trick plays, went unexplored.

“Hue said it was keeping him up at nights because he had a million ideas on how we could use him very quickly,” Kingdon said. “I never got a good answer as to why we didn’t.”

Pryor got only one snap as a rookie and it was erased by his own false start penalty.

The following season, with Dennis Allen as head coach, Pryor threw only two passes before drawing a season-ending start in a 24-21 loss to San Diego.

Pryor’s only extended play at quarterback came in 2013, courtesy of a sore arm by free agent signing Matt Flynn. He rushed for 576 yards, a franchise record for a quarterback, and had a 93-yard touchdown run, an NFL record for a quarterback.

There were moments where Pryor looked like a potential NFL passer, including an electric 18-for-23, 221-yard performance in a 27-17 win over San Diego with a 135.7 passer rating — a number Derek Carr has exceeded only once in his career.

But the general consensus was that Pryor simply wasn’t accurate enough to succeed from the pocket. Allen eventually replaced Pryor, 3-7 as a starter, with Matt McGloin. After the season, following the Raiders’ acquisition of Matt Schaub, Pryor requested a trade and general manager Reggie McKenzie sent him to Seattle.

Determined to be a quarterback, Pryor was cut by Seattle, Kansas City and Cincinnati before finally agreeing to give receiver a try in Cleveland. Pryor worked diligently to learn the position and sought outside help, including working with Randy Moss. Like our Oakland Raiders Facebook page for more Raiders news, commentary and conversation.

Last season, Pryor caught 77 passes from six different quarterbacks for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns — joining Marlin Briscoe (1968-76) as the only quarterback-turned-receiver to have seasons of 1,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards receiving.

“I really don’t think he gets enough credit for the accomplishments he’s had at wide receiver,” Washington coach Jay Gruden said in a conference call. “People want to slam him for a dropped ball occasionally or maybe a poor route once in awhile, but he’s a great athlete. I’m impressed with his work ethic. I think he’s going to continue to get better, which is really, really exciting.”

In the end, one of Davis’ last conversations with Pryor proved to be prophetic.

“He said it might take awhile, but that he believed in me and that I would be a great player,” Pryor said. “I’ve still got stuff to accomplish. I’m still working hard. There are things I want to do. But he’s one of the people who believed in me, someone I definitely looked up to and someone I want to make proud for giving me an opportunity.”