Thursday, June 1, 2017

Browns trade for Calvin Pryor

On a day when our President decided that the dollars of energy barons was more important than the first step in protecting our planet,we here at TRS are both saddened and disheartened with today's decision.
I do occasionally talk politics here,but I'm going to let emotions go a bit more evenly before I write about this issue here.

Until then,we still have sports and the Cleveland Browns decided to take a little of the spotlight away from the Cleveland Cavaliers with a trade to upgrade the secondary as the Browns acquired former first round pick Calvin Pryor from the New York Jets to hopefully team with first round pick Jabrill Peppers to comprise the safety pairing for the upcoming season.
Pryor was rumored to be on the outs with the Jets as the Jets had demoted him,passed on his fifth year option (for 2018) and drafted two safeties in the recent draft in the first two rounds (Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye).
The Browns might have been better suited to wait,allow the Jets to release Pryor and use their number one waiver claim to add Pryor for free,but instead shipped linebacker DeMario Davis to the Jets in order to save even more money on the salary cap (Davis will make 3.7 million to Pryor's 1.6,both are free agents at the end of 2017) and add to their large amount of space.
Davis was the top free agent signing on the defense for 2016 and was penciled in as the starter at middle linebacker for the upcoming season,but that isn't as big of a deal as one would think.
In the Gregg Williams defense,the large majority of the time is spent with just two linebackers on the field and with the recent extension to Christian Kirksey and the re-signing of Jamie Collins,it doesn't take a Mensa member to figure out which of the three "starters" was going to spend the most time off the field.

As for Calvin Pryor,the Jets were disappointed in him,but he is a big hitter that hasn't performed as well in coverage as hoped,but is still just 24 and if you believe Jabrill Peppers will be the playmaker in the secondary that the Browns badly need (Color me very dubious on that),Pryor's aggressive thumping style could mesh well with that of Peppers.
Pryor didn't make a lot of big plays as a Jet (two interceptions and two forced fumbles),but he wasn't a disaster either as he started 38 of the 44 games that he was active for in New York.

I'm fine with the Browns taking this risk.
It's reasonably low cost (although I did like DeMario Davis,he wasn't a long term foundation piece) and you are giving a second chance to a player that just might fit what Gregg Williams does on defense.
Remember that Mark Barron came out of college as a first round safety that struggled in coverage for Tampa Bay and was considered a disappointment to the point that Barron was traded to--the Rams where Gregg Williams used Barron as a hybrid linebacker/safety and helped Barron into being a very productive tackler as most fantasy players that use IDP (Individual Defensive Players) know.
I can hope that the Browns are able to turn the career around of Calvin Pryor and I'm cautiously optimistic that can happen.

Will try to be back later with game one of the NBA finals...


No comments: