Even the Patriots will concede they 'blew it' when it comes to Terrelle Pryor
You can probably count on one hand the number of potential New England Patriots players Bill Belichick has declined to sign who have gone on to bigger and better things after leaving Foxboro.
Terrelle Pryor is one of them.
“I really thought I was going to be a Patriot,” the Ohio State quarterback turned Cleveland Browns wide receiver told cleveland.com this past week. “I know Bill Belichick really liked me. I had a great workout for them and everything went really well. I really thought he was going to sign me.”
After opting to switch positions upon his release from the Cincinnati Bengals in June 2015 — his fourth team in five years — Pryor joined the Browns, but was cut by Cleveland when a hamstring injury cost him his chance to show his wide receiver skills in the 2015 preseason. In need of a 6-foot-4 wideout with 4.3 40-yard dash speed, Belichick invited Pryor in for a workout, but ultimately opted not to extend an offer, “because,” as Pryor said, “he just wasn’t sure my hamstring was 100 percent healed.”
After Pryor hauled in eight receptions for 144 yards in addition to taking 15 snaps at quarterback last Sunday for the Browns, who re-signed him in December 2015, even Mike Lombardi — Cleveland’s former GM and an assistant on the Patriots’ staff last season — conceded on a podcast appearance with Bill Simmons that New England whiffed on the chance to sign a potentially special player.
“We blew it,” Lombardi said five consecutive times. “The league often gives you a chance to be great and if you don’t talk advantage of it, it’s your own fault and that was one of those times we didn’t take advantage of it in New England, clearly. It was all right there in front of us, and we didn’t make the right decision at that point, but that’s life. You move on. But Pryor has a chance to be special.”
Of course, the Patriots weren’t the only team to pass on Pryor. The Seattle Seahawks and New York Jets also reportedly worked him out last season, and every team in the league had a chance to sign him before Cleveland scooped him up again with three games to go in 2015. But given Belichick’s history of success when it comes to personnel decisions, letting Pryor walk might end up being one of few notable gaffes, even if it meant gambling on a former quarterback overcoming a hamstring injury.
