Bills sign WR Terrelle Pryor and then release him

[Prime Time]

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25034114/new-york-jets-release-injured-wr-terrelle-pryor

Jets to release injured WR Terrelle Pryor, could re-sign him

The New York Jets are releasing injured wide receiver Terrelle Pryor on Saturday, a league source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Pryor has a tear in his groin and is expected to miss about two weeks.

The Jets are interested in bringing Pryor back when he is healthy, a source told Schefter, but other teams also are likely to be interested.

The former Ohio State quarterback caught a touchdown pass in each of the Jets' past two games, against the Broncos and Colts. He has 14 receptions for 235 yards on the season.

Pryor had only 20 receptions for 240 yards and one touchdown in nine games for the Washington Redskins in 2017.

He signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal, which included a $1 million signing bonus, with the Jets in March.

On Thursday, Pryor expressed confidence in his ability to contribute.

"If I play this week -- hopefully, I do -- I'll come back and dominate and do what I gotta do," Pryor told ESPN. "... I'm a playmaker. Throw me the ball and I'll make it happen."

Pryor has battled injuries since signing with the Jets. In the spring, he fractured an ankle and required surgery, which cost him most of the preseason. The Jets never disclosed the injury. Pryor revealed the nature of the injury in August, resulting in a stern rebuke from coach Todd Bowles.

The Jets could replace him on the roster by signing rookie wide receiver Deontay Burnett from the practice squad. Burnett was Sam Darnold's teammate at USC.

The wide receiver corps is banged up, and the Jets need bodies. The only healthy receivers are Robby Anderson, Jermaine Kearse, Andre Robertsand Charone Peake. Roberts and Peake are mainly special-teams players.

ESPN's Rich Cimini contributed to this report.

 

[hotanez]

"If I play this week -- hopefully, I do -- I'll come back and dominate and do what I gotta do,"

LOL

 

[Merlin]

Another freakishly athletic player bites the dust as a wideout. $hit ain't for the weak of heart.

Route runners with good hands who understand their effin responsibilities... Rams are on to something now thanks to McVay IMO.

 

[LesBaker]

You have to wonder how he went from 77 catches for over 1000 yards to about 250 a year after that.

What happened???

 

[Merlin]

Oh and btw there IS a bit of a connection to the Gruden clan and thus McVay, from Cousins to Jay Gruden to Jon's facility in Tampa.

IF the Rams think he is willing to bite the bullet and work on his deficiencies they might be interested. Hope not of course, not a fan personally but I don't think it's outside the realm of reason.

 

[Merlin]

You have to wonder how he went from 77 catches for over 1000 yards to about 250 a year after that.

What happened???

I could go on about it but this is a good example:


View: https://twitter.com/mmehtanydn/status/1041706248905940992?lang=en

 

[Merlin]

Haven't watched enough of his film to know how accurate the following is, but here's a very detailed article on him:

https://www.ganggreennation.com/201...own-pryors-numbers-by-route-type-ne-york-jets

How complete of a receiver is Terrelle Pryor? Breaking down Pryor’s numbers by route type
32
How did the first-year receiver put up four digits in Cleveland?
By Michael Nania@Michael_Nania Updated Jul 18, 2018, 11:28am EDTSHARE

Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images
Over the last few days, I’ve broken down the numbers of promising young Jets receivers Quincy Enunwa (see his breakdown here) and Robby Anderson (see his breakdown here). Today, we keep things rolling with a look at a new addition to the Jets wide receiver corps: Terrelle Pryor. For the purposes of this study, I focused solely on his 2016 season in Cleveland, where Pryor impressively posted 1,007 yards in his first season as an NFL wide receiver playing for a team that fielded five quarterbacks to throw 20+ passes. How did Pryor do it, and what does his ceiling look like going forward? Let’s dive right in!

Firstly, a synopsis of the route types I broke down. I went with a relatively simple group of categories, and I know some routes have a variety of different names. For the purpose of this study, here are the labels I went with:

Let’s first take a glance at the routes Pryor saw the most targets on. He officially tallied 140 in the 2016 season, but after removing blatant throwaways, I brought his total down to 128. Here is a look at his target breakdown:

The Browns absolutely loved to feature Pryor on comebacks and curls especially, while also heavily favoring routes working him towards the middle of the field. He also saw a heavy diet of targets on the go route, but as we’ll learn later on, it wasn’t exactly a smart move by Cleveland to keep feeding Pryor deep down the field. Pryor rarely worked with manufactured underneath touches.

Next, let’s take a look at which routes yielded the most successful receptions for Pryor. Which routes did he collect the most first down catches while running?

In his first year as a wide receiver, Pryor had a very impressive array of successful tools. He compiled 7 or more total first downs on five different route types - Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson only did that with one route type each in their respective previous seasons. We’ll get into it even deeper later, but you can see on this chart the ghastly efficiency Pryor sported on the go route, collecting a first down on only 15% of targets.

Next, let’s see which routes yielded the most total yards and yards per target for Pryor.

Not much changes throughout these three charts. Pryor had a very well defined set of common routes, and he thrived when seeing the ball thrown his way while running them. He feasted with routes directed towards the middle of the field, in addition to his heavy favoring for comebacks towards the sideline. Conversely, he produced little underneath.

Finally, here is the complete breakdown of Pryor’s 2016 numbers by route type. Take note of his average route depth, especially on posts and curls. Pryor’s overall average target depth of 14.4 yards was 1.5 yards higher than even Robby Anderson.

Some notes from me:

• Pryor didn’t see a big change in style or production based on side of the field. He saw 78 right side targets to 50 left side targets (61%) ratio - but actually saw a nearly even split in total yardage by side, with 528 on the right and 479 on the left (52-48 split). That was due to an increased yards per target rate on the left (9.6 compared to 6.8 on the right), but his first down rate was also steady, with a 38% on the left compared to a 40% on the right.
• The perception is that Pryor is a big and fast athlete who is raw as a wide receiver. That’s partially true, but I would actually classify Pryor as a route-running chain mover, surprising as that may be. He specializes in quick shifting routes towards the middle of the field (as the numbers showcase), creating separation with short area quickness. This is how he was able to make himself a first down machine despite playing with a carousel of quarterbacks on a one-win team - he was a good route runner with a variety of weapons.
• Bouncing off of that, Pryor really isn’t the guy his physical profile might suggest he is. He made his living picking up first after first on curls, comebacks, and slants, very rarely making the splash plays that Enunwa and Anderson regularly make. Pryor has a few defined weaknesses. Drops are a big one; most of his 9 that I tracked were very routine plays. His YAC ability is also very poor, he far too often runs backwards after the catch and loses yards from the reception point. He also is not a good deep receiver, as he lacks burst off the line, top-end speed to beat defenders down the field, and the ability to reel in 50-50 balls. His quarterbacks didn’t help him at all, but Pryor’s poor go route numbers match up with his ability on those plays.
• You have to appreciate Pryor’s versatility here. He compiled 120 yards or more on six different route varieties by my charting; Enunwa and Anderson only had two each. Don’t expect Pryor to be a beast down the field or to make things happen with the football in his hands, but he has proved he has the ability to move the chains with the best of them.

We’ll have to see if Pryor can bounce back from his supposed injury problems that plagued him in Washington, and whether or not his age at 29 years old will begin to eat at his athleticism. However, while Pryor has work to do earn a place high on the receiver depth chart, he showcased a lot of promise in 2016. I’ve mentioned this a few times already, but he was playing pro wide receiver for the first time; on the Cleveland Browns. Pryor had one game where he caught for 144 yards while taking 10 snaps at quarterback.

He didn’t accumulate 1,000 yards being an “athlete” as many may have thought, he did it with solid route-running ability and a versatile array of tools. His skillset compliments that of the other Jets receivers very well. And, who knows, it’s very possible he still has untapped potential as a WR. In time, maybe he can fix his issues with drops, creating deep route separation, and open field play to become an even better receiver. After all, as poor as his deep route production was, he showed he has the ability to find creative ways to get open deep:

There are a lot of question marks with Pryor, but a lot of potential as well even at 29 years old.

 

[yrba1]

I remember him bitching on Twitter about Cody Davis tackling low, dude's soft

https://ramsondemand.com/threads/te...-davis-on-twitter-like-the-pansy-he-is.51195/

 

[LesBaker]

That is the NFL version of the NBA's ankle breaker crossover.........

Interesting article and I appreciate it, on a cheap contract I'd bring him in for a looksee.

6' 4" and 240 with 4.38 speed I just read online.

He's never had shit for a QB or a good system other than in WASH where he had Cousins but nothing else.

There are two plays before the bomb fro Cousins.

 

[LesBaker]

I remember him bitching on Twitter about Cody Davis tackling low, dude's soft

https://ramsondemand.com/threads/te...-davis-on-twitter-like-the-pansy-he-is.51195/

I'm never going to call an NFL player soft.

And especially because I got a lot of grief from co-workers about Holt and Bruce turf diving 10 feet from a defender and sometimes more.

 

[Prime Time]

Plus he could free up a roster spot as a backup QB.

 

[Prime Time]

It's official, Pryor has been released.

 

[Prime Time]

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25128263/terrelle-pryor-signs-buffalo-bills

Free-agent wide receiver Terrelle Pryor has signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Bills, the team announced.

 

[Legatron4]

Bills got their QB

 

[I like Rams]

Bills got their QB

Hell, maybe that shouldnt be blue? Lol

 

[Prime Time]

View: https://twitter.com/theScoreNFL/status/1062436625542565888

 

[Merlin]

I'd love to hear McVay's take on him. My guess is that Sean isn't interested in adding questionable character types to his offense however.

 

[LumberTubs]

What he did in switching from QB to 1000 yard receiver was impressive.

But he's clearly a d**k. None of the teams he's been on kept him around long term.