Kansas City Chiefs: Why Release Terrelle Pryor?

In a surprise move on Tuesday, the Kansas City Chiefs cut former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor. The move came just a few months after signing Pryor to a one year deal in January to come in and compete for a spot on the roster.

Pryor was drafted in the supplemental draft by the Oakland Raiders who gave up a third round selection to choose him in 2011. He beat out Matt Flynn for the Raiders starting job in 2013 and played for several weeks until injuries and poor play saw him benched in favor of Matt McGloin. In Oakland he showed flashes of his trademark and remarkable athleticism along with some decent quarterback play.

He took the Raiders to within a play of defeating the Indianapolis Colts, beat the San Diego Chargers, and set an NFL record with a 93-yard run against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was obvious that Pryor was not a very good pure quarterback then but he was and still is a tremendous athlete with curious potential.

So that begs the question as to why the Chiefs would sign and release him just four months after signing him? Quarterback talent is a precious commodity at the NFL level and if there was even a 1 percent chance that he could end up being a good player for the Chiefs then they should have kept him. Instead they decided to roll with Chase Daniel and Aaron Murray as the backups to Alex Smith.

This could be a sign that general manager John Dorsey is more confident in Murray then we may think. It is still a mystery to me as to why Terrelle Pryor is having such a hard time finding a home in this league. It makes sense that the Oakland Raiders would cut him after he was a starter there and likely did not want to accept a backup role.

However there are several other quarterback-needy teams who could have taken a flyer and still might on the young quarterback. He appears to have put the mistakes of his past at Ohio State, which were not even that serious to begin with, and is working on becoming a better person and player.

The Seattle Seahawks gave him a chance last season but they already had Tarvaris Jackson firmly entrenched as the backup. Obviously the Chiefs did not see any potential in the youngster but the very least they could have done is given him a chance in training camp. Perhaps this is a better option for Pryor as he will now get a chance to sign with a team that is actually interested in seeing his talents on the field during training camp and the preseason.

Pryor does not bring the media circus that Tim Tebow does and he’s still an intriguing athlete and quarterback with his combination of size and speed. He may very well be just another athletic quarterback who could not hack it in the NFL but it feels like he has not been given a fair shot yet in his career.

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