Three years ago, Terrelle Pryor started nine games as a quarterback. In 2014 he sat out the entire season. Now he's a starting wide receiver and looking the part.
It's quite spectacular for a player to make such a drastic in-career position switch at the highest level of football and succeed. Going from corner to safety is one thing; that's in the same genome. Moving from passing to catching is a whole different animal.
The 6-foot-4 27-year-old owns the size, speed and athleticism to play receiver. The biggest questions were always about his hands and his ability to run routes and adjust to balls in the air.
In the Browns' first preseason play from scrimmage Pryor displayed the entire package in a sprawling effort to corral a 49-yard bomb from Robert Griffin III.
"You want to be a big-play offense and T.P.'s done some great things all throughout camp and the spring, and it translated to game day," Griffin said of the catch, via the Akron Beacon Journal. "It was good to see him go make a play on the ball and really show up on game day for us. That was awesome."
Pryor added an eight-yard catch a few plays later and was targeted four times in limited snaps with Griffin and Josh McCown.
"I thought (the catch) was outstanding," coach Hue Jackson said. "I think Terrelle is growing each and every day, but again, I think as a unit, we need to continue to get better."
Growing each day is the key for Pryor, who still needs to master the route tree. If he continues to progress in his second season playing the position, the Browns will have an enticing pair of wideouts with Pryor and rookie Corey Coleman, who sat out Friday's tilt.
For his part, Pryor wasn't surprised by his big play.
"I'm a big visionary guy," he said. "I always think about myself before I go to sleep, when I'm taking naps. I think about making big plays. I kind of thought about that play before I made it."
Hopefully, Pryor dreams up more spectacular plays for the regular season.
