DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Pryor Signs with Skins ... Chapter 2

One thing with Pryor, he is a QB at heart. When he was on the sidelines, he was very vocal, even with the coach. Hue knows him and seemed to know how to handle that situation. He was on a young team with few leaders. He now will be going to an established team, with a pecking order in place. I love his passion, but it could rub his new team the wrong way. Cousins is the QB, and the leader of the offense, Pryor will have to step back a little and find his place. There will be players on that team, that know that if he has a big year, he could be gone next year, with no problem. His motives are clear, and I'm not judging him for them, but it could have an impact on what happens with him there.
For the record, I think he is going to be good, but he is going to be game planned for, good recievers are shut down often in this league, and when that happens, QBs make names for secondary guys. A lot of No. 1 WRs, got their break playing with a guy who draws heavy coverage. It is just how it goes.

Pryor had a very good year in Cleveland w/far worse talent than he most-likely will have in Washington.

I agree, I think he will do very good. I was just thinking out loud.
If I was him, and as confident as he is in his abilities, I think I would have done the same thing.

Gotcha.

I think we both know that the wildcard here is if Cousins is traded. That throws off everything we were just saying. LOL

I hope he is traded here. I think he grew up as a NFL starter last year. He just rubs me of a guy that is about to climb a rung on the ladder.

I think Pryor needs to show definitive progress at his craft as well - just having a stud QB throw the ball to you will help you but not as much as learning to run better routes. Pryor is a freakish athlete - whatever game I went to in 2015, during pregame warm up, Pryor simply looked like the best (one of the best) athletes on the field and everything looked easy for him ... but that size/speed/strength will get game-planned for without some additional skills added to his game.

I think he will do well - that's why I would prefer that he was still here. But it's no sure fire thing that he's going to have better numbers than he did last year despite the carousel at QB.

Cleveland Browns Scribbles: Terrelle Pryor dropped ball on contract talks -- Terry Pluto

By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2017/03/cleveland_browns_scribbles_ter.html

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Scribbles in my Cleveland Browns notebook about Terrelle Pryor:

1. Some fans want to blame the Browns for failing to sign Terrelle Pryor. You can do that if you are convinced Pyror was worth being paid as one of the top receivers in the NFL. But is that fair? I don't think so.

2. The Browns offered Pryor a four-year, $32.5 million deal with $17 million guaranteed. He turned it down. The Browns then offered it to free agent receiver Kenny Britt, who quickly grabbed it once free agency opened.

. Pryor asked the Browns for a four-year deal worth at least $13 million annually. The Browns had signed Jamie Collins to a four-year, $50 million deal in January. They were not going to pay Pryor more than Collins, who has been a good linebacker for four seasons.

4. Pryor made the decision to find out what the free agent market thought of him. The answer was clear -- not much. It had to be humbling for Pryor to find so little interest.

5. Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot reported some teams offered Pryor about $10 million a year. He turned them down. Let's assume that's true. Then it was another miscalculation by Pryor, especially when you look at the contract he eventually signed with Washington.

6. Pryor signed a one-year, $6 million contract with Washington. He can earn another $2 million in incentives. According to Profootball Talk's Mike Florio, Pryor will need a Pro Bowl season to pick up the extra cash. The first bonus is for 60 receptions -- $250,000. If he has 80, receptions, $1 million.

7. Florio reports Pryor would need at least 80 receptions, 12 TD catches and 1,250 yards receiving to pocket the full $2 million. That would be a monster season and it should set him up for the kind of contract that he wanted right now.

8. But it's a huge gamble. Pryor caught 77 passes, 4 TDs and 1,007 yards receiving in 2016. Maybe he can do that again. Or maybe not. That's the gamble.

9. Other receivers were paid. The Rams signed Robert Woods to a five-year, $39 million deal ($15 million guaranteed). Mount Union's Pierre Garcon signed a five-year, $47 million deal ($20 million guaranteed) with San Francisco. DeSean Jackson signed a three-year, $33 million deal ($20 million guaranteed) with Tampa Bay.

10. For whatever reason, the market was very cool to Pryor. It also showed the Browns offer was fair, given what transpired later.

11. It gets murky about what happened when Pryor found little interest and had the one-year deal from Washington. Supposedly, he came back to the Browns and now wanted a one-year deal. The Browns didn't want to sign him to a one-year deal knowing free agency loomed. By then, Pryor's feelings toward the Browns were not as strong as they had been during the start of the process. Things could turn ugly in 2017 if Pryor struggled and he was on a one-year deal.

12. Pryor will turn 28 on June 20. He's in his second full season as a receiver, and could possibly improve. Of course, he runs the risk of injury or not producing as he did in 2016.

13. I would have preferred Pryor take the original four-year deal and be content, much like what Jamie Collins did in January. But he didn't. I do think the Browns could use another veteran receiver besides Britt. But I'm not going to be upset with them about passing up on Pryor as the free agency period opened.

That should be the second-to-last post in this thread...it won't be...but it SHOULD be.

It is clear that Pryor wanted more money than he was being offered. Instead of taking a below market deal, he opted to take a one year deal, play his best, and reenter the market. He is betting on himself. This type of stuff happens all the time.

How do you think being in Washington is going to impact his stats? He definitely has a better QB throwing the ball to him, but Pryor also had a very high # of targets last year. Cousins loves him some Reed.

If Pryor doesn't get his high volume of targets, I wonder if his performance will suffer.

Just keep your eyes on the sideline starting about week eight. When you see the meltdown, you'll know.

j/c:

I've lost a lot of respect for Pluto recently.

And it is a very risky proposition. If I were him, I would've taken the Browns' deal after one year of legitimate productivity in the NFL. But it is what it is. We'll see if he ends of making the right decision.

That's the key. Browns offered more, for longer, with more guaranteed, than any other team. Much more.

Pryor decided to play the market. Totally his choice. It may work out wonderful for him, it may bite him in the rear.

Here's the key: It was HIS CHOICE. He is/was free to do that. If it benefits him, kudos to him. If it doesn't? Tough luck.

It has no bearing on the front office of the Browns.

The Browns decided to pay that money to Kenny Britt.

Britt might have a better year than Pryor and all will be well. However, if Pryor goes off and Britt sucks..........I don't think the FO will get a free pass from the objective crowd.

You're probably right, but it shouldn't be that way.

Yes, they paid that money to Britt, but they also tried to get Pryor back. It's not like they got Britt and told Pryor to get lost.

Pryor wanted big money, and when he didn't get it, chose to bet on himself to go after the contract next year. That's a perfectly reasonable, if risky, reason for him to leave.

I hear you.

I gotta give you some perspective as to why I said what I did.

Pluto and some posters are saying that all the blame goes towards Pryor and the FO is blameless no matter what.

Now, if mac gets on here and puts all the blame on the FO, I will defend the FO.

Does that make sense?

My thoughts on this:

I'm not really blaming either side.

I'm not really exonerating either side.

I think that both sides did what they thought was right. I think both sides lost in a way. I think so because Pryor lost money and security and the Browns are [in my opinion] a worse team w/out him than they would be w/him.

It's business and stuff like this happens. <<shrug>>

We are definitely on the same page. It helps that we're almost a week removed from that crazy day. It was crazy and I was really excited and anxious.

I'll leave the door cracked open to the possibility that there is more to the story (did Pryor try to get a similar deal in Cle? Did the FO turn him down? etc), but with the info we have right now, it just came down to business decisions, and I respect that.

The only thing I'll add is that I think this FO is starting to get dialed in. They got a LOT of mistakes out of the way last offseason. They're trying to use creative processes and decision-making to turn the franchise around, and in hindsight, a bumpy start should've been expected. Next up, let's see if they've improved on their drafting.

Yes, I am much happier w/the FO this year than I was at this time last year. LOL

Pryor made the choice he's the only one who could make the final decision no matter who offered what.

There is only a couple of guys (and gals) I trust as Cleveland media. Lane Adkins is good (although he covers his butt by giving out info in such a way that it could go one way or another and he still claims he was right). I like Rueter most of the time as he is tough but fair with the team, and doesn't make stuff up.

The rest of these folks just love to either blindly support or rip the FO regardless of facts as long as it supports their agenda.

I used to love Pluto, but he's regressed w/age.

Not too long ago, he was bringing up he just found out Jimmy G was a free agent at the end of next year. LOL...a ton of guys on this board knew that before he did. That's laziness and lack of professionalism.

I also think he has been shill-like the past few seasons. It's as if he needs to kiss Haslam's butt to make sure he keeps getting information. And maybe he does? I don't know.

But, I do know that I despise subjective reporting.

Getting inside info generally means you take managements position. If you can't you at least try to round off the sharp edges as much as you can.

I don't understand this comment. The market is what he was being offered. Where does the comment "instead of taking a below market deal" come from?

I just want to make a few other comments:

Why do some assume we are going to be worse without Pryor than with him? This is in no way, shape, or form a Mitchell Schwartz situation. No matter what any fan said about Schwartz over the years, any reasonable person who pays attention to the NFL in general knew that Schwartz was an above average starter for years. The Browns were obviously going to be worse without him and the FO letting him walk was egregious, IMO.

Pryor was a one year converted WR. He made very few big plays. I don't recall one play where his speed or athleticism broke anything open. He was an emotional time bomb on the sidelines. There is no track record to speak of with Pryor at receiver where I think we can say we are going to be worse off. We don't even know if he's going to actually get better.

I would have preferred he stayed and taken the bet he would continue to improve. But we don't have a lot to base that on.

As for MKC, does it make any sense at all that Pryor received multiple 10-11 million dollar offers that he passed up? It's really hard to know what to believe, but does that wash for anyone? I think she's lying and trying to mislead. Either that or she's severely uninformed and irresponsible.

You make some really good points there...for me it's more of having to "fill" another hole than mourning the loss of a really good player.

He should be easier to replace than was/is Schwartz...and maybe Britt is that guy. I'd still rather have Pryor, Britt, & Coleman heading into the draft...but I'm not losing sleep over it just yet.

I agree with your first point. The market determines your market value. He went out to the market and the market told him he is worth a 1 year, 8M contract, with 25% of that amount in incentives that he will be hard pressed to meet. So, that is his market value. If someone else in the market offered him a better deal, he would be there instead of Washington.

I do think we are worse off without him. After letting Hawk go we were down to Pryor, Coleman and a bunch of guys we hope will amount to something. Signing Britt should not have prevented us from signing Pryor as well. Even with Pryor, we needed another piece. We now have Britt, and without Pryor we still need another piece.

Your post didn't make much sense to me other than the part about the market.

How can you say that we are not worse when the guy was by far our most productive WR?

Also, Pryor made more plays than you think. The TD vs Tenn. The catch where he came back from a poorly thrown poor ball, split two defenders and caught the ball against Tenn. The bomb against the Cowboys. The bomb against the Steelers. The catches against Norman and Washington. The long pass against Philly. Another one against the Giants.

What's crazy is that most of the longer passes were when Cody was not the qb. The catches against Tenn were w/Cody, but they weren't long and Pryor bailed him out. But, people just them some Cody. It's hard for WRs to make big plays when their qb can't/won't make those types of throws.

I think a lot of Kessler's problem (not all) is that he really didn't have chemistry with Pryor. Pryor wasn't really the most consistent with his routes. He was definitely a playmaker, but not the most precise/predictable.

I love Pryor's physical talent, but I question his discipline.

I think Kessler will look better if he gets more reps with the starters. How much remains to be seen.

I watched a highlight video to refresh my memory before I posted. I brought up the part about Kessler because the long passes came from RGIII and even McCown. The bail out plays came when Cody was in there.

I probably should have said, "Below what he thought his market should be."

Pryor wanted a top-tier contract. In order to get someone to pay that this year, he would've had to convince a GM to pay him based on his potential. It appears that Pryor and his agent were unable to do that. Instead of getting tied up in a longer contract, he is going to re-enter the market next year with a longer resume, and a better argument that he's worth that larger contract. He'll have more ammo to say that he's not just a flash in the pan.

Pryor is in a unique position. He has little experience, but he's old enough that he's probably only going to get one crack at that extremely lucrative contract, and he doesn't want to get shut out.

I'd ask, "How did teams play Pryor in each case?" I know that some of it may be due to Kessler, but I think teams also figured out Pryor a bit.

Pryor's still a physical specimen, but he's going to have to keep developing to continue to have as big of an impact.

I think so far Pryor's "development" has been more he's getting used to the demands of the position than his technique getting a lot better.

Just my impression, don't have the time or the all-22 to really dig in right now.

I feel like he got squeezed to the sideline more as the season went on.

Can you post a link to the video, please? I would love to see what you're talking about.

No, the song is inappropriate and I don't wanna get suspended. But, here is another one.

Can you PM me the other one, please. I would like to look at the same thing you are.

Watch the one I just posted. You can obviously see that Pryor did indeed make plays. And if you look at the videos that pop up on the side, you'll find the other one.

But, it doesn't really matter. There are many of the same plays. To say that Pryor didn't make any big plays or explosive plays is incorrect.

OK, watching the video ....

The 1st 2 or 3 throws were either RG3 or McCown.

The TD throw against Tenn was a great throw and a great catch. The throw was in the only place it could have been, between 2 defenders, right into Pryor's hands. Greeat throw.

The 2nd was a nice job by Pryor coming back to the ball, just as he should. I think that if that ball goes over the top, it's picked. Not perfect, but acceptable, and a nice play on both ends.

The sideline throw to Pryor against the Redskins was a perfect back shoulder type throw. It was right there. The TD pass to Pryor was perfect. Hit him right in the hands, and allowed him to catch it with the ability to stay in bounds.

The TD against Dallas was excellent. Hit Pryor right in the hands for the TD.

Ugh I hate this "music".

The throw against Miami hit Pryor right in the hands, right in stride.

Next pass to Pryor was a good throw. Again, hit Pryor right in the hands, on time.Next is a pass to Pryor, wide open in the middle of the field. Hit him right in the right spot for him to take off and run right away. Next is another very good pass, allowing Pryor plenty of YAC.

Nest is a perfect throw, hitting Pryor right in the hands, on the sideline. Next was an 8 yard pass. OK, nothing more.

I gotta tell you, out of the passes that were from Kessler, I don't see any really bad passes, where Pryor bailed him out. Can you point out the ones you think were not good throws? I want to see what you're seeing.

Oh, I see...........you are not talking about Pryor. You are talking about Kessler. LOL

Have a good one.