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This could be a steal . . .
This might seem like a low-profile, second-tier free agent signing, but it’s more than that.
Ian Rapoport announced on Thursday night that wide receiver Terrelle Pryor is going to sign with the Jets, and his agents are hammering out the final details.
This signing could turn into a masterstroke.
This guy is a rare talent – a 6-4 1/2, 230-pound receiver, who ran 4.38 when he came out of Ohio State, with incredible athleticism.
And keep in mind, he was a quarterback at Ohio State, and for his first three years in the league (Oakland, Seattle, Kansas City) he was also a quarterback.
In 2015, in Cincinnati, he was switched to a wide receiver, and I think the Jets are getting him at a point where he’s now truly comfortable in his wide receiver skin.
Let’s not forget last off-season, there was talk of a lucrative long-term deal being worked out with Cleveland, and they were even considering tagging him if the couldn’t get it done.
Something went awry (the Cleveland front office was terrible dysfunctional at the time), and he ended up signing a one-year deal for $6 million with Washington.
In 2016, playing on a Browns team with a far from ideal QB situation, Pryor had a 1,000-yard season (77 receptions).
And that is why the Brown wanted to lock him up, and when they couldn’t, the Redskins jumped into the fray.
Pryor got off to a decent start with Washington, with six receptions for 66 yards in their opener against Philadelphia, but suffered a serious ankle injury not long into the season and ended up on IR after just 20 catches.
I’m telling you, the Jets could catch lightning in a bottle with this move.
First of all, they need a big target in their receiver room – they have talent in there, but nobody built like Pryor to go up and consistently win 50-50 balls. He can climb the ladder. This guy consistently creates matchup issues for opposing secondaries with his rare size-speed ratio.
And let’s not forget, he played with Josh McCown in Cleveland, so they aren’t starting from square one as a tandem. Also, McCown is a good influence on the sometimes mercurial Pryor, who hasn’t always been a choir boy. I don’t think he’s a bad guy, but he’s made some dubious decisions at time. McCown, a tremendous leader, the best one at One Jets Drive, will be a great influence on Pryor.
There is a lot to like about this move.
Rapoport hasn’t announced the terms of the deal yet, but it’s probably not too crazy. I have to give Mr. Coffee and the Jets’ chief contract negotiator Jackie Davidson a lot of credit. They are doing a very good job with their free agent contracts this off-season. They aren’t going crazy like that did the last time they had a ton of cap space, in 2015, when they gave out a few wasteful contracts. They learned from that experience and are getting more fiscally responsible deals done this off-season.
I like this Pryor move.
He can help the Jets a great deal.
March 22, 2018
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