We’ve embarked on a series looking at free agents the Cincinnati Bengals should pursue on teams which sat out the 2017 playoffs. Next up: the Washington Redskins.
After reaching the playoffs every year from 2011-2015, the Cincinnati Bengals fell short of the postseason for the second year in a row. Now they await NFL Free Agency in 2018, which could be key for them getting back in the mix.
Entering the offseason, we started with a series that highlighted players from playoff teams that the Bengals could look at in free agency. Now, the focus has turned to the other teams that weren’t in the postseason.
We’ve previously taken a look at players from the Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns, Ravens, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets,Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, and New York Giants, and Dallas Cowboys. Next up: the Washington Redskins.
Terrelle Pryor, WR
Pryor’s career has sent him on one of the more interesting career paths an NFL player has probably ever endured. After becoming one of far too many college athletics participants who got entangled in their archaic rules regarding players and money (don’t even get me started on my issues with the NCAA and money), he ended up being considered ineligible due to selling signed autographs.
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Because of his college ineligibility, he ended up entering the NFL Supplemental draft that season. It wasn’t a guarantee that it would see him selected (he was the only selection that season, and one of only five across all rounds of that draft this decade), but eventually the Raiders pledged their third round selection for him (because of how the supplemental draft works, that means they essentially used their third rounder from the next season to acquire him).
With the Raiders, Pryor would eventually see the field, but not as soon as he probably should have. The quarterback had to start his career with a weird five game suspension due to the issues which got him ruled ineligible for college, but that shouldn’t have even happened. There wasn’t anything in the NFL rules which should have caused those problems from Ohio State to affect a player once they enter the professional ranks; yet, the NFL did it anyway. He would have his only play from that year — a quarterback sneak after motion from the wide receiver spot — nullified by a penalty.
His second year was the start of him getting some real chances, though it didn’t come until the end. An injury to Carson Palmer gave him a start in the final week of the season, where he accounted for 51 yards on the ground and three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing), but lost in a mainly inaccurate passing performance by him Pryor (46.7 completion percentage). There was apparently something Oakland liked with Pryor from that game, enough to trade away Palmer; while they would bring in Matt Flynn to compete with him, it was his job to lose.
Pryor won that job, and started setting records with his rushing ability (an Oakland-record 112 yards on the ground from the quarterback spot in the 2013 season opener). He’d end up picking up 576 yards on the ground that season and led the team to a 3-3 record in his first six starts before the wheels fell off. He showed a penchant for fumbles (seven in 11 games) and his decision-making as a passer just weren’t good enough.
From there, he started a process of traipsing around the league. He was traded for a 7th round pick to Seattle in the 2014 offseason, got cut in late August, worked out for five different teams (including Cincinnati), then when he wasn’t signed sat the year out. He would come back and sign with Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Cleveland in the 2015 offseason, but of course each of them cut him eventually.
The Cincinnati cut is what changed his career, though. After years of resisting the calls for him to do this exact thing, he stated an openness to switching to wide receiver. While his first signing in Cleveland didn’t last, it did give him a connection they looked back on late in 2015, and they brought him back, and then signed him on for 2016.
With a full offseason as a wide receiver, Pryor did exactly what those clamoring for a position switch his whole career hoped he would: he thrived. He became an explosive deep threat despite being on one of the worst offensive situations imaginable (the 2016 Browns); by the end, he had 77 catches and 1,007 receiving yards — a good total for any receiver, but kind of unbelievable for a guy in his first full season at the position on one of the worst offenses we’ll probably see in our lifetimes.
He seemed poised to get paid big, but despite all the money in the world Cleveland didn’t want him back for a big money price; turns out, they (and everybody else in the league) believed that maybe they shouldn’t allocate tons of money to a player with a single good season under his belt. Washington eventually signed him in a prove-it deal to replace their own departed deep threat, but unfortunately he proved exactly what teams were afraid of. Despite playing with a quarterback who is about to set the market at the league’s most important position, Pryor couldn’t play anywhere close to his 2016 self. He capped out at 20 receptions and 240 yards before his season ended early.
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Despite it all, Cincinnati should pursue him. He definitely has talent in that body; his 2016, regardless of any empty-calorie boost provided by garbage time and being the only plausible option outside, doesn’t happen without it. Give him a quality situation, and he can be a good option. There’s this as well: coming off of injury following a poor season means his value will never be lower.
He needs a situation to give him a chance, and Cincinnati has been that for so many players which have struggled to find a balanced path in the career. There won’t be the same level of pressure on him as there was in his previous stop because he wouldn’t be seen as the #1 guy now. For Cincinnati, he could give them another explosive playmaker to help out A.J. Green, as well as be a cheap insurance policy in case John Ross continues being rendered useless due to injuries.
Let’s see if the third time will be the charm for connecting Pryor and the Bengals.