For a 7th-rounder. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...um=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national
He really should have converted to WR. He had to put in just as much work to become a decent QB when he could have become a beast WR. Kid has a good attitude and work ethic, I just think his main problem is he can't recognize that he is better suited to play a different position.
Some of these guys (Tim Tebow is another) can't put their ego aside and do what is best for their careers because of the success that they had in high school and college.
What makes you guys think they can switch their position literally over night (hs/college-NFL) and become successful? Haven't these WRs and TEs been playing the position their whole life? And a guy like Tebow or Pryor comes in a learns how to play TE or WR and expect them to be better than these other guys at a pro level? Seems far fetched. Have these guys had experience at those positions?
Ronald Curry, Hines Ward and Antwan Randle-El come to mind as College QBs who made the transition. Antonio Gates was a basketball player in college. Pryor was nowhere near NFL ready as a QB and that year he spent learning QB only helped him learn how to be a backup QB, where if he had switched right away to WR he probably would have made more money over his career.
They are already football players, playing the most demanding position (QB). They know what the other positions entail already. It really isn't that large a leap to make the change. It is easier than a PF in college becoming a SF in the pros. I don't know if Pryor would have become a beast as a WR, but it is possible and I do know Pryor won't be an NFL QB in 5 years.
I agree, it's hard for a player at one position to play another at an elite or even adequate NFL level. People said VY should play WR... I don't think so. But you do get the occasional Matt Jones. I actually think Pryor does have a shot as a redzone WR. But I think he's capable of being a decent backup QB in the league.
Realistically, I assume most young high profile athletes would rather be in the league and be good at what they do, rather than stubbornly sticking to their guns and trying to be something they're not capable of.
Agreed, and I hope he feels the same way when he is 30 years old making $30,000 a year and no one knows who he is. Maybe he still will be happy, but I doubt it.
Maybe - or he might have already been cut and be out of the league. Crappy WRs are less likely to have jobs than crappy QBs. As it is, he's still employed in the NFL and getting a paycheck.
As it stands, staying as a QB, he'll make $700,000 this year and will have totaled over $2 million by age 24, with a decent chance to float around a 3rd QB for the next several years. If he converted to WR in yr 2 and sucked, he would have been unemployed at age 22 and made far less.
Statistics would disagree with you. A typical NFL roster holds 5 WRs. Being a 4th string WR means occasional playing time whereas a 3rd string QB is unlikely to ever do anything but hold a clipboard and therefore will only be judged by what he's able to do in meaningless preseason games and in practice. Had he converted to WR, they surely would have given him a couple years to develop.
There are also a lot more WRs to start with, though. You regularly see really crappy QBs holding backup or 3rd string jobs, especially if they were once highly regarded (see David Carr) - in part because so few QBs make it to the NFL pool in the first place, and in part because there's a time investment by the team so experience in your system helps. Low-end WRs are a dime a dozen and there's no real investment there by a team, so they are more easily cut and disappear for the next low-end guy that might become good. If TP switches to WR and sucks, there's no real reason for anyone to sign him. There are plenty of other choices out there that are likely much more fundamentally sound thanks to having played WR their whole life.