McDaniel, Allen End Holdouts : Raiders: They practice along with Patterson, who returns to camp.

Wednesday was homecoming day for the Raiders.

And home they came from three directions--one resigned to signing the same old deal, one happy to get a brand-new deal and one happy to finally be able to deal with a career-threatening incident.

Running back Marcus Allen, cornerback Terry McDaniel and defensive back-special teams player Elvis Patterson were all in uniform for the morning practice at the Raider training camp.

Allen and McDaniel ended holdouts that stretched through the first month of workouts. Patterson was reinstated after being on suspension for 10 days as a result of fighting with defensive backfield coach Jack Stanton.

Allen reportedly received the same contract as he did last season, a $1.1-million, one-year deal. This is the third or fourth season Allen has received that salary, depending on who’s counting.

Allen’s side maintains that the running back, heading into his 11th season, received $1 million in 1988, got a mandated 10% raise to $1.1 million in 1989 and has been stuck there ever since.

Not so, say the Raiders, who say Allen received $1 million in 1989 and was raised to $1.1 million in 1990.

Allen supporters regularly criticize Raider owner Al Davis for not giving a raise to his longtime star, the man who has won MVP honors, a rushing title and a Super Bowl, and who survived the Bo Jackson era and now prepares for the challenge of Eric Dickerson.

The Raiders counter by pointing to injuries that limited Allen to 63 carries last season and to 69 in 1989. “Figure out his salary per carry,” one Raider official said.

Allen didn’t seriously think his holdout would force Davis’ hand. This was merely a protest. For meaningful relief, Allen has gone to the courts, suing both the Raiders and the NFL. The suit is pending.

Allen has no intention of carrying his battle with the Raiders to the media. He politely refused all comment Wednesday, saying: “It’s all legal; it’s all legal stuff.”

And how did he feel about his role in light of Dickerson’s arrival?

“That’s something I have no control over,” he replied.

Has he been working out? Allen was asked.

“Never stopped,” he replied.

McDaniel was far more willing to talk, although all he would say about his new contract was that it is “somewhere from one to 10 years.”

McDaniel, entering his fifth season, spent the last month in Los Angeles, working out with fellow cornerback Lionel Washington until last week when Washington ended his holdout.

“I just did what I had to do,” McDaniel said. “Every day, I was thinking something was going to happen.”

Watching the Raiders’ exhibition opener last Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers on television made McDaniel a bit antsy. “When you see a game, it gets you going even more,” he said.

Patterson, 31, was thrilled to get going again after sitting out his suspension for body-slamming the 54-year-old Stanton to the ground, ending a dispute between the two in Flagstaff, Ariz., where the Raiders were scrimmaging the Phoenix Cardinals.

Patterson was contrite Wednesday. “I made a mistake,” he said, “and I’m going to have to live with it for a long time.

“Some things just happen in each and every one of our lives. Some times you can control things, and some times something just takes over. You have to be a man and apologize and make sure the apology is accepted in good faith.”

That, said Patterson, has been done with Stanton.

“Me and Jack, we’re having fun again,” Patterson said. “He’s coaching me and I’m having a wonderful time. The main thing is that I get back on track and play football again.”

Patterson said he was never worried about being traded during the 10 days he was on suspension.

“It never crossed my mind,” he said. “I’m silver and black all the way.”

Coach Art Shell reinstated Patterson after fining him, and after taking time to talk to people throughout the organization. The idea of bringing Patterson back, Shell said, received heavy support from his fellow players, much of it unsolicited.

“It made me feel great as a person and a player,” Patterson said of his teammates’ backing. “We have a unique group of guys here. You can’t find a family like the family here. I worship them. I feel as strongly about them as they feel about me.”

Patterson, a former New York Giant and San Diego Charger, joined the Raiders as a Plan B free agent in 1990. A defensive back, he has become a star of the Raiders’ special teams.

But all that seemed to end in Arizona. Immediately after the Stanton incident, Patterson was sent home.

It was a shock, Patterson said, to get up the next morning and read the newspapers. “The one thing that hurt more than anything was when you read . . . the stories that make you feel like you’re a moron,” he said.

“That doesn’t do you justice. People that know me know what type of person I am. I’m just a football player. I should be judged by my on-the-field actions and nothing else.”