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This word is thrown away way too much, and generally way too early. And top of that, it’s being used too often devoid of context.
New York Post headline today – “Calvin Pryor set to jump from potential bust to Pro Bowler.”
When was he a “potential bust?”
“Looking back at 2015: After a shaky rookie season, Pryor came into his own during his second year in the NFL,” wrote Brian Costello today. “He clicked with new coach Todd Bowles and was able to play his natural strong safety position after a 2014 season of playing out of position because of the poor state of the secondary.”
Was his rookie season shaky? Of course. That is the case for most players. So to me, anybody who talks about a rookie being a bust during his rookie season, or after his rookie season, is being foolish.
I’m not talking about Costello – he didn’t write the headline.
But think about Pryor’s rookie season. He came out Louisville early after his junior year and when he arrived in Florham Park for rookie minicamp he was only 21. And then he missed a lot of time in training camp that summer due to injuries.
But as Rex Ryan was wont to do, he just he threw him right out there, and he started 12 games that year. He missed three due to injury. He wasn’t ready to start, but Rex often felt that his confidence in a player could make them ready, almost speed up the learning curve.
When you have a really young player, a junior eligible, playing an amazingly tough NFL position like safety, and he misses valuable time in camp, he shouldn’t start. Use him as a role player until he’s comfortable. Draft status doesn’t make somebody ready before they are ready.
So I never, ever considered Pryor a “bust” after his rookie year. That was crazy talk.
Pryor was asked about the “bust” word after his rookie season, and his answer made a lot of sense – “It’s my rookie season, it’s not going to make me or break me. People can say ‘bust’ or whatnot, man, but I learned a lot from my first year that I can take within my second year. I want to prove just the doubters wrong.”
And he did, playing well last year.
I expect a huge season for him this year. Now entering his third season, he’s now comfortable in his NFL safety skin. Also, in his second season in Todd Bowles defense will help him a lot. Honestly, there were a lot of blown coverages last year by various Jets defensive backs who seemed to make assignment errors. It was a new playbook, and that showed at times. Expect a number of defensive backs to play better this year than last year now that they truly understand Todd’s defense.
The only thing that could prevent Pryor from having a big season this year is the injury-bug which was a problem his first two seasons. You see he is a 5-11, 207-pound safety who hits like a middle linebacker, and a lot of times the targets are a lot bigger than him. It’s hard to make it through a whole season unscathed with that approach.
July 13, 2016
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