Bills sign Terrelle Pryor — will he get a chance to play quarterback?
As several teams bolstered their playoff hopes with moves on a frenetic trade deadline day, the Buffalo Bills made a very Buffalo Bills transaction.
They signed wide receiver Terrelle Pryor, a recent castoff of the rival New York Jets. Pryor, who has also played receiver for the Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins, had a breakout year in Cleveland in 2016 with 77 catches for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns.
Pryor disappointed after breakout year
His breakout earned him a free-agent deal in Washington, where he struggled to make an impact with 20 catches for 240 yards in 11 games. Washington cut him loose in the offseason, and he made 14 catches for 235 yards with the Jets through six games before they released him last week while he was dealing with a groin injury.
The Bills announced on Tuesday that they had signed Pryor and released cornerback Dontae Johnson to make room on the roster.
Will Pryor get a shot behind center?
What’s interesting here is that Pryor can also play quarterback. He was the Big Ten freshman of the year with Ohio State in 2008 and quarterbacked the team to a pair of conference titles before the Oakland Raiders drafted him in the third round of the 2011 supplemental draft.
Pryor played 14 games at quarterback for the Raiders, including nine starts where he tallied 1,994 passing yards, nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions with a 56.3 percent completion rate. Those are numbers that explain why he made the transition to receiver.
It seems unlikely that Pryor will see any action behind center in Buffalo, but the Bills have the worst quarterback situation in recent NFL memory.
Bills QB situation is a mess
Rookie Josh Allen is sidelined with an elbow injury, and backup Derek Anderson suffered an arm injury Monday against the New England Patriots, leaving Nathan Peterman as the only healthy quarterback on the roster.
When Bills fans think of Peterman, disaster is likely one of the first words to come to mind.
The team is reportedly meeting with Matt Barkley, who has thrown a total of 216 NFL pass attempts, to back Peterman up.
So while the Bills signed Pryor as a wide receiver, it’s not inconceivable that he could play some sort of emergency quarterback role.
And if there’s anywhere that’s susceptible to quarterback emergencies, it’s Buffalo.
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