Cleveland Browns: Can Terrelle Pryor make the final roster?

The Cleveland Browns will have a battle at wide receiver during training camp. Can Terrelle Pryor be one of the receivers still standing at the end?

The Cleveland Browns are busy rebuilding the wide receiver position in time for the for the start of the 2016 NFL season, most notably by selecting four wide receivers in the 2016 NFL Draft.

All four of the draft picks – Corey Coleman, Jordan Payton, Ricardo Louis and Rashard Higgins – have a very real chance of making the final roster as the Browns are not exactly flush at the position after two years of neglect by former general manager Ray Farmer.

That would presumably leave just three roster spots available during training camp. Veteran Andrew Hawkins seems to be a lock for one of those positions, and third-year receiver Taylor Gabriel has shown enough that he could earn one as well, leaving just one spot up for grabs.

“Any time I get the ball in my hand, something special is going to happen.” – Terrelle Pryor

Which leads to the question of whether or not Terrelle Pryor can earn a roster spot.

Pryor certainly has the size at 6-foot-4 and 233 pounds to give opposing defensive backs nightmares. And he is athletic enough to look good when the Browns are practicing in just shorts and helmets, which seems to be the case following the end of the off-season workout programs.

“The season is yet to come here, but I know one thing: he’s improved by leaps and bounds,” senior offensive assistant/wide receivers coach Al Saunders told the team’s website about Pryor. “It’s really hard, that transition from the quarterback position to a wide receiver position, and the physical environment is so different. He’s being asked to do things that he’s never really been asked to do before. He’s got to make a lot of ground up in that way, but every day he gets better, he does something that really gives me room for optimism that he has a future at that position.

“We’re really excited about him. He’s dedicated himself in the classroom, and his work ethic is better and better and better. His efficiency is better and better and better. I look forward to getting him in training camp and see where we can go from there. He’s done a nice job.”

Pryor is the latest example on the roster of a player who has found new motivation under Jackson’s ever-present optimism. And even if he doesn’t survive the cut to the final 53-man roster, Pryor is planning to make things as difficult as possible this summer.

More from Dawg Pound Daily

“Somebody on the other side on defense, they got to guard me and I got to make them bust their butt and make them better and that’s the only way we’re going to get better,” Pryor told the team’s website. “That’s the only way we’re gonna start winning here, when guys are competing with each other and pushing it to the edge. And that’s what I try to do every day.

“I feel like any time — especially when I get the ball in open space — there’s plenty of times where I go around the corner as a quarterback running the ball and stiff-arm one of those little defensive backs and keep going. Any time I get the ball in my hand, something special is going to happen. So I think the quarterbacks know that and I think coach knows that. I’m looking forward to it.”

Pryor still has a ways to go in his transition from quarterback to wide receiver. And he will be competing against players who have been at the position for every day of their careers.

Next: PFF names Joe Thomas as top OT

Worst case scenario is makes the other wide receivers earn their roster spots. Best case is that he earns himself a roster spot and gives the Browns a potential versatile weapon on offense.

In either case, the Browns come out on top, which is never a bad place to be.

Home/Browns News