MOBILE, ALA.: Browns coach Hue Jackson said Wednesday the organization has been busy trying to retain impending unrestricted free-agent wide receiver Terrelle Pryor.
With the Browns securing linebacker Jamie Collins through the 2020 season Monday via a four-year, $50 million contract, Pryor is the franchise’s top player scheduled to hit the open market on March 9.
Browns head of football operations Sashi Brown said Jan. 2 the team wanted to bring back Collins and Pryor without using a franchise tag. Mission accomplished with Collins, so has there been any progress with Pryor?
“I know we’re working hard with all of our free agents,” Jackson replied after he coached the South team in its second Senior Bowl practice. “That’s a huge piece of what we’re doing. We’re trying to do everything we can to keep our players on our football team.
“I give a lot of kudos to [owners] Dee and Jimmy [Haslam] and Sashi and his crew as we continue to battle to make sure that we get our players done, and we want them all back if we can get them back.”
Although Pryor has said a new deal needs to make sense for both sides, he has also insisted he wants to remain with Jackson. On Jan. 2, he said he told agents Drew and Jason Rosenhaus he would like to stay with the Browns.
Jackson is pleased about Pryor expressing a desire to return to Cleveland.
“It means a lot. I hope all of our players that are there want to be there,” Jackson said. “That’s the kind of environment we try to create, but as he’s done, he’s got to do what he needs to do, and we hope it all works out. We’re working our tails off, I know that, to make things happen. So I think as long as our organization is putting its best foot forward, hopefully great things will happen for us.”
In his first full season after switching from quarterback to wide receiver, Pryor led the Browns with 77 catches for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns.
The contract website Spotrac.com estimates Pryor’s market value at $8.6 million per year. Should the Browns fail to reach a long-term deal with Pryor, they could secure him with a one-year deal by using their franchise tag. Teams can designate franchise players from Feb. 15 to March 1. The projected cost to franchise a receiver this year is $15.8 million, according to OverTheCap.com.
Impending unrestricted free agents of note on the Browns’ roster other than Pryor are offensive lineman Austin Pasztor, punter Britton Colquitt and free safety Jordan Poyer.
O-line change
Jackson explained for the first time his decision to fire offensive line coach Hal Hunter on Jan. 10 and ultimately replace him with Bob Wylie, who held the same title under Jackson in 2011 with the Oakland Raiders.
“He’s one of my guys,” Jackson said of Wylie. “I just thought I needed to go in a different direction. I’m trying to improve our team in a lot of different areas, and it’s an opportunity to get better. I take the responsibility for our offense last year. We didn’t play as well I think we could. It doesn’t matter what players we did or didn’t have. I just think there’s a level of performance we’re looking for, and I just felt it was best to make a change, so we made the change.”
Last season, the Browns allowed 66 sacks, 17 more than any other NFL team.
With Wylie guiding the Raiders’ O-line six years ago, they tied for fourth in the NFL in fewest sacks allowed with 25. Only five teams surrendered more sacks than the Raiders the previous season when they gave up 44.
“He has a way of going about it and getting guys to play,” Jackson said of Wylie. “We’ve done a good job together, and he’s a guy I’m real familiar with. When we were together, we didn’t get the quarterback hit a lot, and that’s the name of the game. The quarterback’s got to be able to stand up right and do what he does well. We need to improve there.”
Special guests
Jimmy Haslam and his father attended the Senior Bowl practices of the North and South teams at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. They talked to Jackson and new Browns defensive coordinator Gregg Williams before the Browns’ staff coached the South team in practice.
“It’s important to him,” Jackson said. “I had said all along I have a great relationship with Jimmy, and I’m really excited [about] the fact that he comes out here and sees myself and the staff and also the talent that’s out here ‘cause I think that’s important as we move forward.”
Much respect
Alabama coach Nick Saban thinks the Browns made a good choice by hiring Williams, his good friend.
“I have a lot of respect for Gregg,” Saban said. “He’s done a good job in a lot of places. He’s a guy that I’ve visited with quite a bit through the years and you only really visit with people that you have a lot of respect for and you kind of see some things that they’re doing — kind of the cutting edge, so to speak, of what’s happening and how defend the changes of the game.”
Another special guest
Dr. Erin Shannon, a sports psychologist and Williams’ wife, has been on the field this week watching the Senior Bowl practices coached by the Browns. Although she has been dressed in Browns gear, a team spokesman said Shannon isn’t a member of the organization in an official capacity.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.