The Washington Redskins will be a team in transition this season replacing their two top weapons on offense from a year ago. The team will be looking to 6-foot-4 Terrelle Pryor and others to fill the void left by the free-agent exit of both Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson. Pryor’s athletic ability allows him the flexibility to continue his career after a failed run as a quarterback. He played his first full year at the position last year in Cleveland and caught 77 passes for 1,007 yards, and four touchdowns. Those are great numbers for a player who had never played the position at the professional level although Pryor says he feels he could have done better.
“I should have had 1,500 yards,” Pryor said, via John Keim of ESPN.com. “I’m not talking on nobody else; whatever happened happened. But I believe I was better than that. It was frustrating that I didn’t get more dominant numbers because I feel I can and I know I will. I can’t wait.”
Pryor, 28, is on a mission to get to the top of his position and isn’t afraid to put the work in to get there. This offseason he’s worked out with Randy Moss and Pittsburgh Steelers star Antonio Brown. Ever the student, Pryor has paid close attention to them both, learning on the fly.
Pryor will in all likelihood start the season as the Redskins number one receiver and quarterback Kirk Cousins’ newest redzone target. Cousins was pleasantly surprised by Pryor’s speed during spring practice.
“Terrelle [Pryor] is really talented running down the field,” said Cousins. “I have been very impressed with his down-the-field skills with his speed. I think being such a long strider, he can really cover ground when it doesn’t look like he is. I want to throw to him every chance I get on those deeper routes and that’s where in OTAs and minicamp I can experiment a little bit.”
Redskins head coach Jay Gruden agrees that Washington’s quarterbacks are going to have to get used to Pryor’s long strides.
“You know, Terrelle is a different guy when he is running. He is such a long strider that it doesn’t look like he is running that fast. So we have underthrown him like a dozen times already in two weeks. So it is just a matter of the quarterbacks getting used to it. Once he gets his feet churning, he’s fast, so they’ve got to trust that he’s going to go get it. It’s just a timing deal. The quarterback has got to see it and feel it. You can’t talk about it on tape so much, you have got to go actually out there and execute it. They’ve got to understand, they’ve got to really stick that back foot in the ground and launch it for him because he will go get it. ”
Pryor’s philosophy has been that of a ‘no day’s off’ approach will both toughen and ready him for his second season at the receiver position in the NFL, one thing’s for certain, his work ethic certainly won’t hurt his situation. After signing with the Redskins earlier this year Pryor stated that playing in Gruden’s offense is what attracted him to Washington.
“Really it was Jay Gruden’s offense. It was kind of the same thing as my coach back in Cleveland, Hue Jackson,” said Pryor. “They are very similar. It’s kind of like I can step right into it. There’s going to be different wordings and different phrases that you use, but it could be easy – a lot easier – to pick up, you know, rather than learn a whole different offense.”
Pryor says that the biggest adjustment for him during his position change was getting used to the physical engagement at the line of scrimmage, something he’s spent this offseason working on.
“I think the biggest adjustment really was – and there was quite a few – but three things that really stood out to me was the engagement and that battle at the line of scrimmage between myself and corners. I really trained hard with corners and guys that were on teams that would be in Charlotte when I was with Randy Moss – that’s where I trained,” said Pryor. “We would do a lot of stuff off the line in terms of that and a lot of stuff in terms of hand-eye coordination down the field with bigger guys or heavier guys leaning on me, trying to catch the ball over my shoulders and catching a lot of balls – tennis balls – with my back turned and throwing them at the wall and grabbing it one-handed. I just continued to work hand-eye coordination because it’s a different game playing receiver. You see a little bead coming out of nowhere between defenders and stuff. The game is all about catching the ball and getting separation and keeping it. I think it really turned for me this past offseason. I really took strides. Like I said, it’s all about hard work and what you put into it.”
[Featured Image by Redskins.com]
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