Terrelle Pryor Suspended

ESPN just broke a major story regarding Terrelle Pryor and several other Ohio State Buckeyes.  According to the NCAA Pryor, Boom Herron, and Devier Posey all sold items such as championship rings and apparel.  This is a clear violation of NCAA rules and the result is a 5 game suspension for all players involved.  Of course this story has sparked a lot of debate about the future of Terrelle Pryor and whether or not he will enter the NFL Draft as a result.  I personally feel that all three will declare for the draft and will find themselves being selected at various stages of the draft.  I feel that at this point in the process Boom Herron has the best draft stock and would be the first selected out of these three.

There has been a lot of discussion on where Pryor should be selected and what position he would play in the NFL.  Some feel that that Pryor’s future is at the tight end position.  At 6-3 233lbs, Pryor certainly has the size to play tight end but I truly don’t see any hope of him laying down a block.  I completely eliminate the tight end position as an option so let’s jump to talking about quarterback.  Pryor has made some improvements over the course of his career at Ohio State but he is still a 1st read quarterback.  He struggles to read defenses and has sloppy technique which all equates to no real future as an NFL quarterback.  If Pryor insists on playing quarterback I wouldn’t consider drafting him until the 6th round of the NFL Draft.

Finally, lets talk about the position I feel is the best fit for Pryor; wide receiver.  Pryor has very good size and athletic ability that should allow him to make the adjustment to wide out.  While Pryor possesses the necessary physical tools I still feel that he has limited upside at the position.  Take a look back through the years and you will find that there has not been many successful quarterback to wide receiver transitions.  The most successful are Hines Ward, Antwan Randal-El, and Brad Smith.  You can argue that those transitions haven’t produced a #1 receiver and I wouldn’t select any of those players before the 3rd round, except Ward.

The recent trend in the NFL might suggest that someone will take a gamble on Pryor and give him a shot at either quarterback or wide receiver.  However, teams should to be weary after the major failures of Pat White, Matt Jones, and Armanti Edwards.  If I am a NFL decision maker I would maybe take a gamble with nothing more than a 5th round pick.  Sometimes talent doesn’t translate and this might be the case for Terrelle Pryor.