He joins new Raiders head coach Hue Jackson, who was the Ravens’ quarterbacks coach in 2008 and 2009.

Saunders was the head coach of the San Diego Chargers for two seasons (1987-88).

He was an offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Rams and was the associate head coach on offense for the Washington Redskins.

Say it ain’t so, Al!

There are few offensive minds around the league that I have a higher regard for and of course he has to go and disappear into the abyss that is Oakland.  Here’s to hoping he gets another chance to run an offense after things go terribly, terribly wrong with the Raiders.

He will specifically assist Offensive Coordinator Cam Cameron in establishing game plan strategies and work on the field with the Ravens’ tight ends and wide receivers.

“We are very fortunate to have him involved here,” Cameron said.  “He has as much experience in our system as anybody in the league.  By the end of the year, we will have stolen every great idea he ever had (smiling).”

“It’s a real great marriage in terms of ideas and philosophies,” Saunders said.  “Cam and I are so close to the philosophical approach to football and how to do things with the quarterbacks and receivers and passing game that it’s really an enjoyable thing for me to be here.”

He said the opportunity to join Head Coach John Harbaugh and be a part of the building process of Cameron’s offense was something he wanted to be a part of.  And joining an organization that Saunders said has an opportunity to win a world championship didn’t hurt.

“I’m at the stage of my career where I really enjoy the strategy of the game,” Saunders said.  “But most of all, you like working with the players to help their skills get really better.  So I’m really enjoying where I am right now.”

Saunders was being wasted last year as simply a “consultant”.  Now that the Ravens have stocked their offense with plenty of weapons (Anquan Boldin, Donte’ Stallworth) it should be interesting to see what Cameron and Saunders can come up with together.

I still feel Saunders deserves to be an offensive coordinator somewhere in the league, but until his next opportunity comes along he will be a huge asset to Harbaugh, Cameron and the rest of the Ravens.

Zorn, 56, was fired by Washington Redskins on Jan. 4 after a disastrous second season as their head coach.  The Ravens, though, were overwhelmed by his experience: 11 seasons as an NFL quarterback, 11 seasons as a respected NFL quarterbacks coach and a familiarity with their offense.

“That’s a great resume for us,” Harbaugh said.

Zorn’s primary goal is to continue the development of Joe Flacco into an elite franchise quarterback.  He becomes only the second quarterbacks coach for Flacco, replacing Hue Jackson (who joined the Oakland Raiders as their offensive coordinator Tuesday).

Although he took heavy criticism as the Redskins’ head coach, Zorn is a highly regarded mentor for young quarterbacks.

As the Detroit Lions’ quarterbacks coach in 1998, he was instrumental in helping rookie Charlie Batch adjust to the NFL.  Batch’s 88.3 passer rating that season ranks as the fourth-highest rookie mark in NFL history.

Three years later, Zorn was pivotal in the growth of Matt Hasselbeck as the Seattle Seahawks’ quarterbacks coach from 2001 to 2007.  With Zorn, Hasselbeck went to three Pro Bowls and set 12 franchise records.

As I said last week when Jackson left for the Raiders, it was going to be tough for Saunders to beat out Zorn.  The former Redskins coach got killed by the local and national media during his time in Washington, but he has a fantastic resume.

There has been no official word, though I imagine Saunders will stay on with the Ravens as a senior consultant.  Would still be great to see him get a bigger job in the league sooner rather than later.

With Hue Jackson off to Oakland, Ravens now will interview Al Saunders from their own staff and former Redskins HC Jim Zorn.

Saunders is currently a senior consultant with the Ravens.

I’m still amazed that Saunders is not an offensive coordinator somewhere in the league.  His name was mentioned in Chicago, but to this point nothing has come of those rumors.

Despite Zorn’s troubles as a head coach, he knows football and will be a tough guy for Saunders to beat out in Baltimore.

Gutierrez did not arrive in time to practice with the Chiefs in the afternoon yesterday but is expected to be on the field today.  He played five games as a backup over two seasons with the Patriots.

Earlier this week Gutierrez was waived by the Patriots so they could clear roster space after signing former Raiders quarterback Andrew Walter.

He played his first three years of college football at Michigan before transferring as a senior to Idaho State.

Martin was the third quarterback for the Chiefs for five games last year, but did not throw a pass.  He was a fifth-round pick out of Furman and spent the 2006-07 season with the Packers appearing in one game.

I guess at this point we should just expect any player that gets cut by the Patriots to end up in Kansas City, which should make for an interesting last week of training camp.  Todd Haley has been pretty clear that his players are competing not just against people in camp but everyone around the league and so far that has absolutely been the case.  I still think Martin has a pro arm, but hard to get too worked up over the guys fighting for the 3rd spot at a position that if you get that low…  well, you win two games.

When you are a franchise quarterback making $63 million dollars, there are certain things that come with the territory that you don’t expect.  Like baptism by blog.

“The first time I went up to have a bite to eat at the golf clubhouse, the guy who was actually serving the food wrote a full blog about what my wife and I had for dinner, what we were talking about.  I was sitting there saying, ‘What just happened?”‘

Didn’t Tom Brady warn his offseason training partner to keep his head on a swivel off the field, too?

“No, Tom’s got paparazzi running around after him.”