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Terrelle Pryor has found a new home. The former Oakland Raiders quarterback was officially traded to the Seattle Seahawks for a seventh round draft pick on Monday.
Seattle had competition to acquire Pryor, as the San Francisco 49ers were reportedly also trying to land Pryor via trade with the Raiders. With rumors of a potential trade looming, Pryor was inching closer to being flat out waived, although the Seahawks clearly did not want to risk not having Pryor slide to them (they’re last in the waiver process).
While the Seahawks already have a cemented starter in Russell Wilson, head coach Pete Carroll and co. could potentially envision Pryor as a long-term backup to Wilson. Pryor is still a raw prospect, but carries immense upside if molded in the right system and environment. In Seattle, Pryor would have time to develop in a system proven to develop winning players. Tarvaris Jackson is fully expected to remain the top backup to Russell Wilson, but if Pryor sticks with the Seahawks beyond 2014 he could eventually push for the top backup job.
Pryor won’t be seeing any time under center for the Seahawks in the traditional sense in 2014, which has some thinking Seattle acquired Pryor for another reason. Due to his elite size and athletic ability, it’s possible Pryor could be used as a wide receiver in specific packages, while it’s also possibly they Seahawks could create a “Wildcat” type package to install just for Pryor.
The latter doesn’t make all that much sense, however, as their starting quarterback (Wilson) is plenty athletic and would be able to run any such offense.
It’s also possible the Seahawks caught wind of San Francisco’s interest in trading for Pryor and made sure they didn’t land another talented player. After all, Pryor would have been a potentially ideal backup for the athletic Colin Kaepernick in San Francisco, as well.
For Pryor, the trade might not be as interesting. Pryor reportedly wanted out of Oakland after seeing it was clear he wouldn’t be given a chance to start. Now in Seattle, that’s an even clearer fact. Only time will tell if Pryor has the makings of a future franchise passer. For now, all we know is that he’ll work to be a quality backup for the defending Super Bowl champions.
