Can Terrelle Pryor really make it as an NFL wide receiver?
Position switches rarely work, but the former quarterback is earning rave reviews from his teammates and coaches in Cleveland.
"What gives me hope and excitement is just watching him on the first day (of camp)," said Browns receivers coach Joker Phillips, per The Plain Dealer. "He's very, very talented and he's willing."
Phillips noted that Pryor is "starving to be taught the techniques," while Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden said of the 6-foot-4, 232-pounder: "He's fast, he's huge, and it looks like it could work."
Cracking the team's 53-man roster means latching on -- at very least -- as the team's fifth wideout. With Dwayne Bowe, Andrew Hawkins, Brian Hartline and Taylor Gabriel likely to make the squad, Pryor must outshine the likes of Travis Benjamin and rookie Vince Mayle, among others.Â
"It's hard to say right now," said Phillips of Pryor making the cut. "I'm not going to put that kind of pressure on him or myself. I can tell you this, he's very, very -- and I'll say it two times -- very, very talented. There's no question about that. The guy's talented, and talent wins ball games."
With Pryor's 4.3 speed and enviable NFL build -- "size-wise, he's a little bigger than (Josh Gordon)," Haden said -- it might be hard for the Browns to let him go. He's easily one of the 53 best athletes on the roster, but it boils down to production.
"It's still very early, too early to tell, but he does not look out of place. He does some good things," coach Mike Pettine said last week. "He is just behind from the learning standpoint and the subtleties of playing receiver. If you had asked where he would be at this point, I would think we would all agree he is ahead of where we thought he would be."
The latest Around The NFL Podcast discusses Tom Brady's lawsuit and debates which veteran players are most likely to be cut.
