I said in my last post that these NFL free-agent signings are volatile and can change at a moment’s notice, and then reverse themselves again just as quickly.
So, then, perhaps – not definitely or certainly, but just perhaps – things have done an about-face in the Browns’ attempt to re-sign wide receiver Terrelle Pryor before he hits the open market as free agency begins Thursday.
Entering Wednesday, it appeared that there were several teams ready to give big money to Pryor, who is the No. 2-rated wide receiver on the market. But now that doesn’t seem to be as much of a likelihood, and as such he seems to be closer to returning to the Browns, whose well-publicized analytics people may have correctly calculated his real worth after all.
But we’ll simply have to wait and see how it plays out, for, as mentioned, just as quickly as it appeared to have swerved back in favor of the Browns, the Pryor pursuit could go back the other way.
There is one thing, however, that’s certain amidst all of this uncertainty, and it concerns the Browns’ assets.
The Browns are $102 million — $102, for goodness sakes – under the salary cap. They brag about this, and they deserve to do so after working long and hard to put themselves into this position. Good for them.
But assets are assets only if a team uses them wisely, or uses them at all. That money isn’t doing the Browns any good if it stays locked up in some vault. It needs to be spent – wisely so, of course – but spent nonetheless.
The time has long since passed for the Browns to save those assets for rainy day, positioning themselves for somewhere down the road. If the Browns don’t start getting better – and soon – then it will be another regime that will be spending it.
With that, then, the Browns can’t be penny-wise and pound foolish. If it takes throwing a little extra mone at Pryor in order to land him, then that’s exactly what they must do. They need players, and he can really play.
They’ve invested the time, effort and money in turning him from a washout as an NFL quarterback into a breakout as a wide receiver – in just one season. They can’t let another team reap the rewards of that. They just can’t.
