Now, in his second season after the transition, Pryor is the Cleveland Browns' leading receiver. Heading into Sunday's game against the Bengals in Cleveland, he ranks 11th in the league with 855 yards on 62 catches with four touchdowns.
“It was something I decided after trying to play QB and getting released three times,” Pryor said. “It was something I just decided I wanted to try to pick up.”
Following a three-year career at Ohio State, the Oakland Raiders selected Pryor in the third round of the 2011 supplemental draft. He spent his first two seasons as a backup quarterback before getting an opportunity as a starter in 2013 but he completed just 57.4 of his passes for 1,798 yards and seven touchdowns with 11 interceptions over 11 games.
Pryor was traded to Seattle for a seventh-round draft pick in 2014 but didn’t make the final roster cuts and spent time with the Chiefs and Bengals in 2015 before realizing a change needed to be made. The day after his release from the Bengals last June, Pryor announced through his agent that he was willing to switch to wide receiver.
The Browns gave him the chance to try it out. It took a year to adjust — he was waived last September and re-signed by December — but Pryor made the leap in Year 2, earning a starting role out of training camp.
“Here’s a guy who came into the league as a quarterback and has really done everything and anything to get himself in position to be a huge part of a football team,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said. “He’s done a good job. He’s growing, he’s learning, he’s getting better week in and week out and I think his best football is ahead of him.”
The talent was always there. Pryor had also been a standout basketball player in high school and at one point had committed to the University of Pittsburgh, hoping to play both sports. That was before ESPNU named him the top quarterback prospect in the country from the Class of 2008.
But Pryor knows he can’t just rely on pure athleticism to get by. Since converting to receiver, he has tried to learn from the best in the game. He even reached out to Bengals wideout A.J. Green on Instagram at one point seeking tips but said he never heard back.
Still, Pryor studies Green’s film and tries to pick up whatever he can from watching other receivers. He spent the offseason working out with receivers like former Patriot Randy Moss, Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown and Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans. After that, he knew he was ready to make an impact.
“I just knew I was ready,” Pryor said. “Did I anticipate I was about to have 1,000 yards? I mean, yeah, I expect that. Anybody that’s a competitor, you expect that because you want to do well and you think you can do it because you have the confidence.”
Opponents saw early that Pryor was a legitimate threat.
In a Week 3 loss to Miami he caught eight passes for 144 yards and has topped 75 yards four times over the last seven games, including a 131-yard performance against the Jets in the Browns’ last outing.
“For him to make the transition from quarterback to receiver, at this level, and then play like he’s playing, that’s not easy at all,” former Bengals receiver Chad Johnson said when asked about Pryor on Sunday while attending Cincinnati’s game against the Eagles as part of the NFL Legends program to honor past players. “He’s playing really well.”
Pryor might wonder where he would be now had he made the switch sooner, but said he has no regrets. He tries to live by Yogi Berra’s quote that “the future ain’t what it used to be,” a reminder to him that decisions aren’t always going to work out as planned but they are part of the path.
Jackson said Pryor’s success is a credit to his work ethic and determination to achieve his dream to be a central piece of an NFL offense.
“(He has) really transitioned into being a legitimate starting wide receiver in the National Football League that has the ability to make plays all over the field,” Jackson said. “I think that says a lot about his work ethic and his commitment to the game. He’s done well. … As long as he keeps working and making the most of his opportunities, good things will happen.”
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