For some players, Cleveland is a place you try to escape when your four years of drafted servitude expire.
But it appears Browns wide receiver Terrelle Pryor not only doesn’t mind it there, but is actively hoping to stay.
With his agents in the process of negotiating with the Browns, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports he has “instructed” his agents to get a deal done because he wants to stay.
Pryor became the team’s top priority once they finished hurling money at trade acquisition Jamie Collins, and they could always use the franchise tag on Pryor between now and March 1 if they can’t reach a long-term deal. But he genuinely sounds like a guy who wants to stay for much longer.
“I know this is an important month,’' Pryor said last week. “But I do love being with the Browns and like I said before, this thing isn’t about joining a different team because a different team’s good. That’s not what it’s about. I love the building process here. I started out in my career never coming in the front door. I’ve always got to go in the back, the hard way and the longer way. . . .
“I have no problem with, just because we were 1-15 or whatever this year, coming back. I don’t mind starting fresh next year and continuing to grow, because I think it’s more exciting when you’re on the bottom. I’m always citing starting from the bottom and getting to the top, and I think it’s a greater feeling and it would be great to give Cleveland what they’re looking for.’'
Pryor emerged as not just a legitimate wide receiver last season, but a very good one. He led the team with 77 catches for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns, which is pretty good considering the revolving door at quarterback which wasn’t exactly conducive to statistical excellence.
And more importantly for the Browns, he found a patron in coach Hue Jackson. While wins (plural) have so far escaped Jackson, getting a guy who would have a market elsewhere to pledge his allegiance to the Browns is a victory of its own. And perhaps more significant than anything else they achieved last year.