NFL Spin Zone
Fansided

Terrelle Pryor the latest false savior for the Cleveland Browns

By Zac Wassink

facebooktwitterreddit

Cleveland fans love to root for a professional athlete deemed to be one of their own. Both Joe Haden and Joe Thomas have been perennial All-Pros for the Cleveland Browns, but it is Haden who has become Cleveland royalty because he has gone “all-in” on being a member of the community who routinely rocks Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Indians merchandise. Kenny Lofton, a beloved hero from the Indians teams that helped revitalize the city back in the 1990s, will be the Mayor of Cleveland when he chooses to run for that office. It was last week when a man called into local sports talk radio asking if there was a way that the Cavs could trade for Ohio-born and Ohio State graduate Aaron Craft. The same Aaron Craft who went undrafted in 2014 and who is currently enjoying life in the National Basketball Association Developmental League.

Seriously. That happened.

ALSO ON SPIN ZONE: 30 Greatest QBs of All-Time

Enter Terrelle Pryor, the latest in a long line of former Ohio athletes hoped by some Cleveland supporters to be able to contribute to a local side. You may remember the former Ohio State quarterback who signed with the Cleveland Browns earlier this month for failed stints with the Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs and most recently the Cincinnati Bengals. Perhaps you recall stories from the fall of 2014 stating that the college QB had seen the writing on the wall and realized that he had to take on a new position – wide receiver in this case – if he was going to make it in the National Football League.

That’s not how Cleveland fans who also root on the Buckeyes remember Pryor. They mostly know him for:

And they expect he can reel off plays like this for the Browns at the blink of an eye:

Pryor is, physically speaking, the most-impressive wide receiver on a Browns roster that includes names such as Dwayne Bowe, Brian Hartline, Taylor Gabriel, Andrew Hawkins and Travis Benjamin. The 26-year-old is somewhere between 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-6 depending on the reference of your choice. He has the necessary weight to feature as a modern tight end if asked. Some have dared to liken Pryor’s athletic skills to those had by Kelvin Benjamin, Vincent Jackson and even Calvin Johnson.

The comparisons end there.

Pryor is not a once-in-a-generation athlete as is LeBron James. Sure, Pryor has good size and ideal speed and agility to feature at multiple positions in the NFL. The same can be said for the hundreds of athletes who don’t make final roster cuts every summer. More worrisome as it pertains to his future with the Browns is that Pryor is a natural quarterback who has been a natural quarterback for the bulk of his adult life.

The history of the NFL is littered with top-tier athletes not being able to cut it on squads as wide receivers, and the Browns know this as well as does any team. Greg Little was a multi-sport high school athlete capable of starting as a running back, wide receiver and as a reserve on the basketball team while attending the University of North Carolina. Little registered more drops than touchdowns during his brief Cleveland career. Josh Cribbs was one of the top special teams players of his time and a dynamic play-maker when on return duties. Cleveland’s experiment of putting Cribbs at wide receiver was a flop.

Cribbs played quarterback while attending Kent State University.

None of this is to suggest that the Browns are foolish for giving Pryor a shot. Some future NFL reference will list a picture of Pryor wearing a Cleveland jersey and shorts during a summer training camp under the heading “Low-risk, High-reward Transaction.” Pryor does not have a final roster spot guaranteed to him. He will be but one of 90 invitees to the next training camp of the Browns, and the odds will be stacked up against him starting from the first time that he lines up against a defensive back up until he receives what will most likely be his final notice from the club.

Pryor has, in four years, gone from a potential NFL starting quarterback to a guy who is likely working to save his NFL career over the course of two months, making him the ultimate “why not?” signing for the Browns. The Browns have nothing to lose in this latest swing for the fences that has provided a career lifeline to an athlete familiar to many within the team’s fan base. Expectations are low from the majority of reasonable Cleveland fans who understand that Pryor is now, as a football player, a college freshman working on a NFL roster. That he has had an inside look at the offense of the Bengals is only an added bonus for the Browns.

It would be easy, truth be told, to feel somewhat sorry for Pryor once he begins practice sessions in front of Browns fans. What other sixth or even seventh option at his position will be the recipient of cheers and of picture requests from on-lookers at a NFL training camp this summer? Name another third-string wide receiver who will be under the microscope with local television and radio personalities breaking down every poorly-run route and every dropped pass. Pryor is essentially Phil Bates, except that fans holding scarlet-and-grey jerseys will immediately recognize the OSU castoff whenever he takes the field.

Everything could work out for all involved by the time Week 1 of the NFL regular season rolls around. Perhaps the light comes on for Pryor in August, and he subsequently becomes an offensive weapon who can be used by the Browns in multiple roles when the games begin to count in the standings. Stranger things have happened before in the sports world. Anybody who would have said in 1997 that Kurt Warner would evolve into a quarterback worthy of being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame would have either been laughed out of the room or would have been hit with responses of “who?”

Just don’t hold your breaths, Browns fans. Your future hero is probably not yet a member of the roster, but he is out there. Somewhere.

Hopefully.

Next: The 30 Greatest NFL Teams of All-Time

More from NFL Spin Zone

Home/Cleveland Browns