The role that safeties play in Ryan's style of defense is a critically important one. While Pryor is a still developing rookie whose best days are ahead of him (hopefully), he was drafted with the belief/perception that he would at some point be a major impact player at his position. He bought with him a reputation as a smart Safety with strong leadership skills, excellent athleticism and as being an extremely punishing hitter/tackler. On draft day, the board was pretty divided between those who wanted us to pick a top receiver and those who wanted us to focus on drafting either a top defensive back or pass rushing prospect. I know its still early on but what is the consensus thus far of Pryor as a player and contributor to our defense? Is he where he should be in terms of his current level of play or should we be expecting a bit more of an impact despite his relative lack of experience? Has he been showing evidence or flashes of his alleged great potential so far? He really has not been on my radar and I am very interested to hear the opinions and observations of those who have been watching him more closely and paying better attention than I have.
It feels like Idzik drafted Pryor just because he watched this play live. I read somewhere that he told Rex, "you're going to love this guy"
He has absolutely shown flashes, he comes up to the ball so fast it's impressive to watch. He is less at home in coverage, but he is clearly getting better and has been making plays in that aspect as well. His knock at this point is not wrapping up on tackles, and it's not like he never wraps up it's just not as often as you like. In college generally any hit from Pryor would send a ball carrier to the ground, but the pro's have bigger, stronger guys everywhere. He just has to learn to chose when to level a guy and when to go for the wrap up. The good news is all of his hits have been very clean, with no personal fouls at all. There are no guarantees a player will only get better, but I'm happy with what I've seen so far. Playing as a rookie is tough.
He hasn't been very impressive so far as a free safety. Hopefully it's just growing pains, and I think his tackling and the terrible angles he takes might improve with time. The thing I don't like though, is that he hasn't displayed any kind of ball-hawking ability or anticipation that the good free safeties have. I would love to see him jump some receiver routes, or anticipate where the ball is going, so far, haven't seen any of that. He does look much better when just coming up to tackle a running back or a short catch. I think there is a decent chance he will be moved to strong safety in the future. But until that happens, I'll be rooting for him to improve at free safety.
He will be a good pro but my opinion he is a pro bowl SS and a average FS. I think this guy is somewhat the mold of TJ Ward at worst and troy polamalu at best ( he might be in the midle of those two) in a year or two not Jairus Byrd or Earl Thomas kind of safety. I like the dude he got a nose for the football in the box.
like i've stated plenty of times before, it's really tough being a rookie DB in the NFL his athleticism and ethic should make him a great player in this league, but he's having his growing pains. he can seem lost in coverage, takes poor angles, and isn't being a ball hawk safety. almost all DBs go through this stretch so i'm still excited for the future with him
Here's his PFF grades. I know it's not perfect methodology but it is something. Interesting that he's been up and down a lot. He's only had one real stinker but two solid games.
He's graded out 19th overall among safeties for the year as well according to PFF. He definitely looks like a player. I feel like PFF's grade for him is pretty spot on. A little up and down but still pretty positive overall.
I haven't seen much from him. I've been noticing he's just looking for the big hit and constantly just runs full speed past the ball carrier, doesn't finish tackles, blown coverages etc. The few plays he has made definitely doesn't make up for the mistakes, but he's a rook and in a terrible secondary so all hope is not lost.
Thanks for the snap shot. Two things I take from it is 1) his best game came as a FS against NE, and 2) he's been in for about 90% of the snaps from game 1. My take on seeing him play (which only happens when the TV cameras shows him) is he's really good at moving forward at a high rate of speed and taking out the RB or anything 5 yards from the LOS. Playing deep safety I don't recall seeing him much other than the blown coverage with AA for a TD.
So far he looks like he can be a solid safety in the box but needs some improvement if he wants to hang in the backfield and operate as a traditional free safety. Prior to the draft, there were quite a few reports & posters here that believed HaHa was a better fit and it's sure looking that way now. Still OK with the Pryor pick because I felt Jets needed to upgrade both safeties. Just felt FS was a stronger need.
Clinton Dix is the 26th rated safety. Hasn't made as big of an impact but there has been a positive progression for him.
What's really impressed me is his range in run support. He's come up from deep safety to make a ton of tackles near the LOS. His coverage has been spotty, but he was really good against NE.
