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Cleveland Browns: Dwayne Bowe, Terrelle Pryor obvious decisions

By Kevin Parvizi

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A report from Cleveland Browns preseason broadcaster Solomon Wilcots, via 92.3 The Fan’s Anthony Lima, surfaced yesterday stating that Dwayne Bowe would need to play well in the team’s final preseason game in order to make the roster. It seemed hard to believe that a veteran receiver capable of being a No. 2 option for the Browns would be cut, especially since the Browns would have to swallow up $9.1 million in dead money by releasing him.

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Well, Wilcots’s report seemed to be vindicated in some sense when Bowe played into the third quarter last night, hauling in the only reception of his hamstring injury-limited preseason campaign. Even though Bowe was rumored to be on the chopping block and did see the field in the final preseason game (which generally doesn’t happen to roster locks), I could have never seen the Browns cutting ties with him.

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The same goes for Terrelle Pryor, but let’s stick with Bowe as a first case. While Bowe infamously failed to catch a single touchdown pass and clearly isn’t a No. 1-quality receiver, he wasn’t all that bad for the Kansas City Chiefs last year. The former league leader with 15 receiving TDs in 2010 did catch 60 passes for 754 yards (12.4 yards per reception) in 2014.

More importantly, he averaged a credible 7.9 yards per target, and while Travis Kelce was quite obviously the Chiefs best pass-catching threat, Bowe did command attention by leading the team with 95 targets. He’s only a No. 2 receiver at this stage of his career, but he has enough strength, experience, and good enough hands to be more than just a “mediocre” No. 2 guy in the offense.

At the very least, he performed better than Brian Hartline did last season, so while Andrew Hawkins has to be the best receiver in Cleveland (and it isn’t close), Bowe should theoretically be the second-best player.

From an on-field standpoint, there would have been no sense in even putting Dwayne Bowe on the roster bubble, hamstring injury or not. When comparing his production in 2014 to what all the other current Browns receivers on the roster accomplished, he’d be the No. 2 guy. That’s it. The Browns aren’t in a position where they can trim away credible, potentially reliable receivers, and while Bowe will turn 31 this month and is on the decline, he’s a good deal better at moving the chains than Taylor Gabriel, Travis Benjamin, and rookie Vince Mayle.

Releasing Bowe would have made even less sense from a financial perspective. Getting rid of a valid “Z” receiver when your quarterbacks are Josh McCown and Johnny Manziel isn’t smart business figuratively speaking, but it literally isn’t smart business to swallow up $9.1 million in dead cap for a guy who carries a $4.5 million cap hit.

Did the Browns overpay Bowe in free agency? Yes. But that also indicates they see plenty of value in him, and I think they’re betting on him playing better in their offense. More likely, they just wanted to add any sort of a legit possession-receiving veteran who can block for the running game, and that’s why I don’t think Bowe was ever at risk of missing out on a spot on the 53-man roster.

I view Pryor’s situation through a similar lense, even though nothing could be more different about these two receivers. Unlike Bowe, Pryor has no past production at the wide receiver position to speak of, and he isn’t an expensive veteran; he’s a cheap, 26-year-old flier who kind-of, sort-of played quarterback for the Oakland Raiders.

Jul 30, 2015; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Terrelle Pryor (87) during training camp at the Cleveland Browns practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Basically, Terrelle Pryor is an athletic specimen, and it’s rare to find a 6’4″, 223-pound who runs a 4.42 forty time. As we saw this preseason, injury risk is high with Pryor, and there’s always the chance that he doesn’t translate his insane athleticism and tantalizing size/speed combination to the wide receiver position, which isn’t an easy one to transition to. But we saw the less athletic Julian Edelman make an excellent QB-to-WR move after taking a bit of time to find his footing, and Pryor’s glowing reports during practices make it seem like he has the chance of making an immediate impact.

It’s a chance the Cleveland Browns simply could not pass up on. With Rob Housler evidently flopping, Pryor immediately becomes their foremost athletic specimen on offense. Hawkins is undoubtedly their best skill position player on offense (though Duke Johnson might have something to say about that when he comes back from a concussion), but Pryor has the most pure athleticism.

The odds are stacked against Pryor when it comes to him making a significant impact in 2015, but he still has long-term potential as he learns the position. And even if he does struggle with playing the position, he has such a big body and so much natural ability that he could fill out a key niche role for the Browns in the red zone. McCown has been busy playing with big, explosive receivers like Alshon Jeffery and Mike Evans over the past two seasons, so maybe he’d enjoy chucking it to Pryor a couple of times in the end zone.

Whatever the case, neither Bowe nor Pryor were really on the chopping block for the Browns, or at least fans and writers shouldn’t have treated them as expendable commodities. Each have their imperfections, but both of them are pass-catching assets (Bowe moreso than Pryor at this stage) on a team that needs to keep such players around. All either player had to do was simply show up to yesterday’s preseason game, and, well, mission accomplished.

It will be particularly interesting to see how the Browns utilize Pryor this season, because he pretty much played everywhere yesterday. Mike Pettine and the organization seem to be fully on-board with using Pryor’s athletic talents in a variety of ways, as these gimmicks could be a nice wrinkle that keeps defenses off-balanced.

Hopefully both players can stay healthy, and, more fundamentally, hopefully both players make this roster.

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