Curry a strong candidate to be Lions’ slot receiver

Ronald Curry didn’t want to wait for the draft. The Lions apparently didn’t, either.

That might explain the free-agent addition this week of Curry, a seven-year pro with the Oakland Raiders who signed a one-year deal in Detroit on Thursday. A day later, he was in uniform for the Lions’ three-day, mandatory mini-camp that ends Sunday.

“I talked to a lot of other teams, but a lot of teams wanted to wait until after the draft, and I felt like the longer I waited, the worse position I was going to be in,” said Curry, 29, a former college quarterback and point guard at North Carolina. “Right now I’m just basically trying to make the team. It seems like a talented receiver group, but I talked to the coach and he said it’s a great place to reinvent yourself. So I’m just looking for the opportunity to go out there and still show people I can play.”

Curry struggled along with rest of the Raiders offense last season, finishing with 19 receptions for 181 yards. But he had 50-plus catches in three of the previous four seasons, the exception being 2005 when Curry missed most of the season because of an Achilles’ tendon injury.

“He’s had a lot of production in the slot and with Calvin and Bryant Johnson outside, we have a need for a slot receiver,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz said after the first of two practice sessions Saturday. “As a defensive coach, I’ve gone against him a lot of times and he fits there.”

Curry thinks so, too.

“I would love that,” said Curry, who also saw some action running the Wildcat formation last season when Darren McFadden was hurt in Oakland. “That’s kind of how I really became who I was in Oakland. When Norv (Turner) was there, he really worked me in the slot, making a lot of plays. With three receivers, I can play outside, but I’m more effective inside. And I think I could help this team out a lot in the slot.”

His new quarterback is a familiar face, too. Culpepper was Oakland’s starting quarterback for a stretch during the 2007 season, and Curry had some of his better days with the Lions’ current No. 1 throwing to him.

“I think our chemistry will be good,” Curry said. “We had good chemistry in Oakland, the time that he played. The playbook was a little limited for him, because he joined us late, and then he wasn’t playing and then he was playing and then he got hurt at the end.

“But he looks great now. He looks like he’s in better shape than he was when he came out to Oakland. He’s real fiery right now, and I think he’s gonna do a great job.”

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