As you know by now, there is a little bit of controversy surrounding Ohio State’s Quarterback Terrelle Pryor. In the wake of being found “guilty” of trading memorabilia and autographs for cash and tattoos there is a small chance that Pryor may elect to forgo his Senior season and enter the NFL Draft. Is this a good idea? Does Pryor have enough value to get the heck out of dodge and take his talents to the big league?
Ask any scout and they will tell you that the physical talent is there. At 6’5 and 230 lbs, Terrelle Pryor is a slightly smaller version of Auburn’s Cam Newton, who is a slightly smaller version of Julius Peppers that just happens to play quarterback. Terrelle physically is about as rare as they come. He’s tall, strong, quick, has nice speed, and actually has pretty good arm strength. On paper Pryor is a first round talent no doubt, until you get to his game film.
Even though Terrelle has a ton of natural athletic ability something just isn’t quite there when you look at him playing the quarterback position. One downfall is that he doesn’t seem to process his reads quickly. You often see him “thinking” in the pocket which causes him to hesitate and end up blowing open receivers because the rush has gets to him before he can decide where the ball should go. That also brings us to another point that is commonly brought up with Pyor, the scrambling.
Early in his career Pryor would run the ball more often when he didn’t see the play developing. When Terrelle leaves the pocket and lets his speed and power take over as a ball carrier he is a huge threat to defenses. It is the elite part of his game. Terrelle is faster than Cam Newton, and much quicker than Tim Tebow ever was running the ball.
Lately Pryor has been running much less despite holding such a huge advantage over defenses when he turns into a ball carrier. This has only spotlighted the problems in his game processing reads and making quick decisions. He would be much better off embracing his talents as a run first quarterback instead of fighting against it so often.
Right now if Pryor would to come out of Ohio State he would be likely be a 5th round selection as an athlete. Only a team with a proven answer at quarterback could afford to carry Pryor on their roster as a developmental quarterback. It is much more likely that a coach gambles on Pryor to become a Brad Smith type player who can play special teams, receiver, and a special “wildcat” package from time to time.
All in all should he enter the draft? If he is willing to play another position then yes, his stock really isn’t going to improve from where it is now. If he wants to play quarterback then Pryor should return to Ohio State and continue his development as a pocket passer. All in all, since most of Pryor’s game is athletic he should probably make the leap sooner rather than later.
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