The Oakland Raiders had a special visitor in camp on Thursday to talk to the team. Peyton Manning who has a speaking engagement on Friday in San Francisco called head coach Jon Gruden to ask if he could stop by and visit the camp.

Manning visited the quarterback meeting and the morning practice session. During the quarterback meeting, Manning was impressed with what he saw out of Raiders quarterback Derek Carr and could tell how much of a passion he had for the game.

“He is very engaged and obviously trying to learn a new system, which is a challenge,” Manning said to The Mercury News. “But one thing about Jon Gruden is he loves football so everybody playing for him better love it too. When your quarterback loves it — you can tell Carr does — it shows.”

Carr was excited to have Manning in camp and tried to pick his brain every chance he could. Carr was always looking for feedback and tips to run the drills better.

“I took full advantage of today, after whatever drill I would go, `Hey, how was the communication. How was execution?’ And he’d give us feedback,” Carr said. “To have that from someone like Peyton, it’s kind of invaluable.”

The Raiders need Carr to have a big season and take another step forward this year, something he should be able to do under quarterback guru Jon Gruden. There is no doubt that Manning also gave him a few tips that should help improve his game.