Posted by NFL Editor and ANG football writer Jerry McDonald
Ryan Riddle got cut Thursday but he avoided getting released.

There were laughs all around when Riddle emerged from the field house on the Raiders practice field with a hideous haircut provided at no charge to rookies each year at training camp, courtesy of some all-to-willing veterans.

About an hour earlier, there were gasps all around when Riddle was involved in a collision with Randy Moss during a drill. Moss leaped high, fell awkwardly, and buckled to the ground in a position that looked as if injury could result.

Surely, there were those on the Raiders sideline whose minds flashed to the worst possible scenario – anterior cruciate ligament, broken ankle . . .

Moss got up slowly and rejoined the huddle. He was fine.

Riddle, a sixth-round draft pick from Cal, was temporarily banished from the field and lectured in strong terms about how to properly execute a simple drill.

“They gave me some stuff for it,” Riddle said. “They said, `Be smart, watch out, you know?’ I tried to stop and fell, and I made it worse by falling into him. I understand what they’re saying.”

Coach Norv Turner was able to laugh about it after practice. “Got quiet, didn’t it?,” Turner said. “Quiet, then loud.”

Turner said the drill was designed to give offensive players a look at a specific San Francisco 49ers defense.

“You want to play close coverage and then lay off at the end,” Turner said. “Young guys have to learn to handle that.”

Riddle’s new hairstyle has chunks of hair missing down to the scalp with curly locks left in random spots.

“It’s contagious,” Riddle warned fans lining the autograph fence.

Third-year linebacker Sam Williams was one of the barbers.

“I wasn’t planning on doing anybody, but Justin Fargas needed a hand and I put my artistic touch on it,” Williams said. “I was going for abstract.”

Williams said he was bald on one side and had hair on the other as a rookie, courtesy of Lincoln Kennedy.

Rookie lineman Pete McMahon was given a Mohawk – which had spaces missing, while defensive tackle Antaj Hawthorne was given sort of a modified Mr. T that looked something like a University of Michigan football helmet.

Rookie linebacker Kirk Morrison wears his hair extremely short, but the barbers found a way around the problem.

“They put a lot of time and effort into his,” Williams said. “He had a couple of area codes in there.”

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