The NFL Supplemental Draft will take place on Monday and the Steelers are once again being linked as a possible suitor for former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Pryor worked out at a high school stadium near his hometown of Jeannette, Pa on Saturday and there were reportedly 17 teams on hand to watch him. The Steelers were 1 of the 17 teams present and that is not surprising. The Steelers filmed the work out to send to all 32 teams and that too is not surprising in itself as they were the closest team to the stadium. Pryor visited with the Steelers today and as Scott Brown points out, that too is not surprising as the Steelers could just be conducting the physical of Pryor to share with all the clubs on such short notice.
So do the Steelers have real interest in Pryor or are they just doing other teams a favor? Let\’s break it down with a few bullet points.
* Pryor will be suspended for the first 5 weeks of the season so any team that selects him in the supplemental draft will not have his services until week six. He will be placed on the suspended list at the start of the season and will not count against the 53 man roster. Should the Steelers indeed select him, they could still carry 3 quarterbacks until having to make a decision on him come week 6.
* The new 46 man game-day active roster works in favor of a team that wants Pryor as a 3rd quarterback to use every now and again for trick plays. The 3rd quarterback rule is a thing of the past now and if a team designates him active on game-day, he can enter and leave the game at any time.
* Former Steelers quarterback coach Kenny Anderson has worked out with Pryor recently, so the Steelers would have his thoughts on him. Of course that info would likely be shared with all teams as well. Not really insider information it is made out to be.
* Pryor does come with quite a bit of baggage though and he certainly would be a long term project at whatever position he ended up at. He seems more of a career slash-type player that will never be regarded as great at any one position in my opinion.
* The Steelers have never made a pick in the supplemental draft since it has existed, and you have to wonder why they would change course now on a player like Pryor.
* If they were to draft Pryor they would pretty much be forced to keep him on the 53 man roster once the suspension is over as he would surely get plucked off waivers if they ever tried to stash him on the practice squad.
I posted back in early June that the Steelers would not have interest in Pryor and I still firmly believe that. At best they might put in a 7th round bid on him, but I figure quite a few teams will as well. It is just a 7th round pick after all. I think the appearance that the Steelers have interest in Pryor is just them doing the other 31 teams in the league a good deed as if they were the host family for an exchange student. Pryor is a local kid after all, but that is were it ends in my honest opinion. We will know the answer for sure in about 24 hours and I would be surprised if he ends up in the black and gold.
