Terrelle Pryor Has Gone from Scrap Heap to Potenial Difference-Maker

Look at the numbers produced by Cleveland Browns wide receiver Terrelle Pryor through two preseason games. Look hard, and take as much time as you need.

In fact, stare until the disbelief turns into amazement.

If you didn’t watch either Browns game so far, it would be reasonable to think his 107 receiving yards and one touchdown on just three catches came against scrubs or second-tier defenders. It is the preseason, after all, and that happens, especially early in August when coaches often rest top players to save them for when football matters.

But fire up the tape then, and note the cornerback defending Pryor on his 50-yard touchdown reception Thursday night against the Atlanta Falcons. That’s Desmond Trufant, who was a first-round pick in 2013, and a Pro Bowler in 2015. He earned that trip to Hawaii by finishing third overall in cover snaps per reception allowed (17.1), according to Pro Football Focus.

Yet there he was, able to only stare at Pryor’s fast-moving cleats as the former Buckeye hit another gear to create separation.

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There was a similar gap during Week 1 of the preseason between Pryor and Green Bay Packers cornerback Damarious Randall. He’s another first-round pick and another corner who excelled in 2015 with four interceptions and a passer rating in coverage of 87.6, again per PFF.

Meanwhile, Pryor once occupied high draft territory too, and was a third-round pick in the supplemental draft. But back then he was throwing footballs, not making spectacular diving catches for 49 yards against guys like Randall.

That’s why we really need to stop and absorb where Pryor came from, and where he could be going. 

He spent the 2014 season out of football and received only nibbles of interest and tire-kicking workouts while still pursuing his goal of being an NFL quarterback. Then, at age 26, he announced his intention to make a position switch and breathe every last bit of oxygen into his dying football career. Pryor would begin the transition to wide receiver, a position he had never played even at the college level.

Now he’s dug himself out of the vast graveyard for athletic quarterbacks whose throwing crosshairs have gone haywire. Pryor is no longer discarded prospect junk and is instead emerging to become a valued difference-making receiver.

He’s even currently listed as a starter, and will likely stay there until fellow receiver Josh Gordon’s suspension is over.

That sort of ascension will happen fast if you’re proving yourself against top competition. And sure, the sample size of snaps and targets Pryor has given us to judge him with is microscopic right now. But it’s also been consistently, well, lengthy.

Pryor has just four career catches between a brief Week 17 regular-season appearance in 2015 and the 2016 preseason. Nearly all of them have ended with the first-down marker being placed much further …

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