Terrelle Pryor reportedly gave Browns a “second chance” to keep him
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns could not work out a deal with wide receiver Terrelle Pryor, despite him reportedly offering the team a “second chance” to sign him.
Because we are only a few days into the free agency process, along with the fact that nothing of real significance may happen until the 2017 NFL Draft, the saga of Terrelle Pryor will live on for a while.
The latest comes courtesy of Mary Kay Cabot of the cleveland.com, who reports (via an unnamed source, naturally), that Pryor gave the Browns every opportunity to retain his services but, given no real alternative, he was forced to leave town.
"The source said Pryor wanted to return to the Browns and held out as long as he could for the Browns to increase their original offer of about $8 million over four years with a sizable guarantee. The Browns also really wanted to keep Pryor, and had been working to do so since training camp."
"Pryor and his agents, Drew and Jason Rosenhaus, didn’t accept that offer because Pryor didn’t want to be locked into $8 million a year when the felt he could make more, especially if he topped his 1,000-yard season in 2017. One source told cleveland.com he was hoping to make elite receiver money, up to $15 million a year."
"Three teams offered him a multi-year deal worth $10 million and one offered $11 million, the source said. But again, Pryor and his agents felt he could get more after 2017 with another big year. Pryor also didn’t accept any of those other offers because he wanted to remain with the Browns, which he had been adamant about throughout the process."
While it is very likely that Pryor’s agents came back to the Browns looking for a better deal – that’s what agents do, after all – this latest report doesn’t really change the fact that Pryor is no longer with the Browns for one simple reason: he and his agents over-estimated his value.
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It is fairly easy to see that the source is probably Drew or Jason Rosenhaus, who having sold Pryor on a financial outcome they couldn’t deliver are now in full spin mode.
Pryor and his agents were convinced that he was worth top dollar for a wide receiver despite only having played one year at the position, which is why they turn their noses up at the Browns offer.
But once they realized that there was not a single team willing to pay Pryor anywhere close to $15 million a year they came back to the Browns with stories of “three teams offering multi-year deals.”
The Browns had a firm number in mind of how much Pryor was really worth – which proved to be far more accurate than what Pryor’s agents thought he was worth – and when they wouldn’t get snookered by a pair of agents Pryor went off to Washington for far less money than he would have made with the Browns.
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Hopefully this is the end of the Browns involvement with Pryor, but that may be as much wishful thinking as the thought of Pryor getting a big-money in a free agent contract.