NEW YORK (AP) — Terrelle Pryor is hoping for a Big-Apple bounce-back with the Jets.
The former Washington wide receiver signed with New York after one disappointing season with the Redskins.
The Jets announced the signing Sunday. Terms of the deal, which were agreed to on Thursday night, were not immediately known.
Pryor had free agent visits with both New York and Seattle, and also had interest from Cleveland, before he agreed to sign with the Jets.
“I’m so happy to be a part of this organization and this team, this young team,” Pryor said in a video posted on the team’s Twitter page . “I’m excited. It’s time to get to work. Jet up!”
Pryor, who turns 29 in June, gives the Jets some depth at wide receiver, where they also have Jermaine Kearse, Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson, along with second-year pros Chad Hansen and ArDarius Stewart.
Anderson’s status is uncertain, however, after he was arrested in Florida in January on several charges, including threatening a police officer’s family and saying he would rape the officer’s wife. He was also arrested last May and charged with resisting arrest after sparring with officials who asked him to leave a Miami music festival.
Pryor signed a one-year, $6 million deal with Washington last year after having a breakout season with Cleveland in 2016, when he had 77 catches for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns in his first year as a full-time wide receiver. He was being counted on to replace the departed receiving duo of Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson, but injured an ankle in Week 2 and tried to play through it. He finished the year on injured reserve and had ankle surgery, ending the season with just 20 catches for 240 yards and one touchdown.
He had more than three catches in a game just once last year — in the season opener — and Washington allowed Pryor to leave as a free agent. The former Ohio State quarterback-turned-receiver now has a chance to return to form as a potential deep threat for the Jets in new coordinator Jeremy Bates’ offense.
This marks the latest stop in what has been a wild football journey for Pryor, who has also spent time with Oakland, Seattle, Kansas City and Cincinnati in the NFL.
Pryor, a top high school recruit from southwestern Pennsylvania, was the starting quarterback for Ohio State from 2008-10 and became one of college football’s most exciting players. He threw for 6,177 yards and 57 touchdowns and ran for 2,164 yards and 17 scores in three seasons with the Buckeyes.
But Pryor withdrew from Ohio State in June 2011 after a memorabilia-for-cash-and-tattoos scandal that resulted in a five-game suspension and ultimately led to coach Jim Tressel’s resignation. Two months later, Pryor was selected by Oakland in the NFL supplemental draft.
He played in just four games during his first two seasons with the Raiders, including one start at quarterback. Pryor started nine games in 2013 with shaky results, throwing for two TDs and 11 interceptions before being benched in favor of Matt McGloin following a sprained knee ligament earlier in the season.
Pryor was traded to Seattle before the 2014 NFL draft, but was among the Seahawks’ final cuts. He sat out the entire season despite having workouts with several teams. Kansas City signed him in January 2015, but then released him five months later. Pryor briefly joined Cincinnati, but was again cut — and then announced that he would be willing to play wide receiver on a full-time basis.
Cleveland claimed Pryor off waivers and he played in three games for the Browns, who named him a starter at wide receiver the following season. Despite still being raw at the position, Pryor’s athleticism and versatility was on full display in 2016 as he led the Browns in receptions, yards receiving, TD catches, yards per game and yards per catch.
In a game at Miami, he became the first player since Hall of Famer Frank Gifford of the Giants in 1959 to have at least 120 yards receiving (144), 30 yards passing (35) and 20 yards rushing (25) in a game. He also played a snap at safety and became the first player since San Francisco’s Billy Kilmer in 1964 to have three catches, carries and passes in a game.
With the Jets, Pryor is reunited with two teammates from that Cleveland team: quarterback Josh McCown and running back Isaiah Crowell.
Pryor parlayed his promising season with the Browns into a nice payday with the Redskins, and things started off well as he had six catches for 66 yards in the opener. But his production was inconsistent from that point before the ankle injury ended his season — and, it turned out, his tenure in Washington — after Week 11.
___
For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL
