Report: Terrelle Pryor signing with Washington Redskins
By John Buhler
Converted wide receiver Terrelle Pryor will leave the Cleveland Browns to sign with the Washington Redskins in free agency.
After two years of playing wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns, it seems that former NFL quarterback Terrelle Pryor will leave Northeast Ohio to sign with the Washington Redskins in free agency.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Washington will be giving a one-year contract to the converted wideout for $8 million in 2017.
Washington giving WR Terrelle Pryor a one-year, $8 million deal, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 10, 2017
For as strange as it has been in Washington of late, this is a pretty solid move for the Redskins front office. In 2016, Pryor had a 1,000-yard receiving season for the Browns, flourishing in Hue Jackson’s offense. He had 77 catches for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns. Keep in mind he played for a team that used six different quarterbacks — including Pryor himself, on occasion.
Washington needed to get a viable wide receiving option after losing its two best receivers in free agency. Pierre Garcon signed with his former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers. DeSean Jackson thought he would look good in pewter and signed to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers alongside Mike Evans.
Essentially, Washington is taking a flier on Pryor to see if his 2016 campaign wasn’t a fluke. Pryor has always had the legs and the hands to play wide receiver. He showed dynamism as a dual-threat quarterback playing for the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten in college.
The problem for Pryor has been getting open. He was targeted a ridiculous 140 times last season, resulting in his 77 receptions. It looks like Jackson was having his quarterbacks force-feed Pryor to try to generate any level of offense.
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What Pryor does get that he didn’t have in Cleveland is a reliable, accurate quarterback in Kirk Cousins (for now, anyway). Washington could be getting a productive player at half the cost of a player like Jackson. If Pryor plays close to what he did last year for the Browns, this could be a great under-the-radar signing for the Redskins.