Patriots Nearly Traded For Browns WR Terrelle Pryor Last Year

According to Doug Kyed of NESN, the Patriots nearly traded for Browns WR Terrelle Pryor last summer.

However, Kyed mentions that the Browns are believed to have declined the Patriots’ offer for Pryor.

Pryor admitted that he thought he was going to end up signing with the Patriots.

“I really thought I was going to be a Patriot,” Pryor told Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I know Bill Belichick really liked me. I had a great workout for them and everything went really well. I really thought he was going to sign me.”

The Patriots elected to pass on signing Pryor “because he just wasn’t sure my hamstring was 100 percent healed.”

Former Browns GM and Patriots executive Michael Lombardi mentioned on the Bill Simmons podcast that they messed on up not signing him to a contract following his workout.

“We blew it,” Lombardi said. “The league often gives you a chance to be great and if you don’t talk advantage of it, it’s your own fault and that was one of those times we didn’t take advantage of it in New England, clearly.”

Earlier in the week, Pryor said that he would “love” to re-sign with the Browns “if Hue Jackson’s here.”

“I respect him very highly and if Hue Jackson’s here, I’d love to stay here,’‘ Pryor told the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Thursday. “I want to be here if Hue’s going to be here for a while, because I know this is a building process — and it’s not really. We’re right there. We’re competing with everybody, we’ve just got to put teams away and I’d like to be where Hue’s at.’‘

Pryor, 26, was taken by the Raiders in the third round of the 2011 supplemental draft. He lasted a little over three years in Oakland before he was traded to the Seahawks for a seventh-round pick that ultimately became Jonathan Dowling.

Pryor briefly played for the Chiefs and Bengals before later being claimed off of waivers by the Browns. Cleveland elected to cut him loose to make room for Robert Turbin last year before bringing him back.

The Browns signed him to a one-year, $1.67 million restricted deal this past March, which means he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next year.

In 2016, Pryor has appeared in three games and caught 14 passes for 244 yards receiving to go along with 21 yards rushing and a touchdown.