What Has Led to Calvin Pryor's Removal from Jets Starting Lineup?
With so many holes in their secondary, the New York Jets were counting on their first-round safety prospect, Calvin Pryor, to be an immediate impact player for them.
So far, Pryor has been nothing but a disappointment, as head coach Rex Ryan would admit.
Pryor came into the NFL carrying a reputation as a big-time hitter and turnover machine, but he has spent a lot more time blowing coverage assignments than making impact plays. Since dropping an easy pick-six against the Oakland Raiders in Week 1, Pryor has only contributed to the Jets' league-worst turnover ratio.
TOP NEWS
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Colts Release Kenny Moore
Projecting Every NFL Team's Starting Lineup 🔮
Rookie WRs Who Will Outplay Their Draft Value 📈
Sitting with a disastrous 1-8 record, Ryan is forced to play the best 11 players to win as many games as possible before his inevitable firing. Based on his recent playing time, Pryor is not among those players:
To put it plainly, Pryor has made far too many mistakes and has not made nearly enough plays on his own to counter his missteps and warrant a starting job, even in one of the worst secondaries in the league.
It became obvious as early as Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers that Pryor was not ready to be the ball-hawking safety the Jets need in the back end, at least in the near future.
On this first-down play, Pryor is put as a center fielder in a Cover 1 look—quite an immense amount of responsibility for a young rookie, especially against an offense as dangerous as the Packers.
Jordy Nelson beats a then-injured Dee Milliner easily on the outside, and Aaron Rodgers goes his way as a result. Pryor takes action when the ball is thrown, but the angle he takes is so poor that he never has a chance to bring down Nelson, even if he just lets him catch the ball.
Predictably, Pryor winds up overrunning the play. Nelson is able to easily juke him and run the rest of the way for an easy 80-yard touchdown that was the difference in the game.
It is common for rookies to struggle adjusting to the NFL game, overrating their speed against the best in the world, at least initially. However, this is an area of the game Pryor has struggled in since his time at Louisville. At some point, one must wonder if he will ever develop the proper skills needed to be an NFL-caliber safety.
Even as Pryor was given less responsibility in more Cover 2 looks as the season wore on, he still managed to miss tackles with excessive frequency. On this long completion to Golden Tate, Pryor is primed to limit the damage of the reception, shooting in from his deep Cover 2 position.
Nonetheless, Pryor is caught going for a big hit, and Tate is able to avoid him and pick up extra yardage after the catch.
Given their dreary cornerback situation, the Jets knew they were going to yield a fair share of completions this year. They also must have accepted that a rookie safety was going to make mistakes and give up big plays.
What they did not anticipate was their top draft pick missing on routine tackles, giving opponents extra yardage that could have easily been prevented. Pryor knows how to tackle but a lack of concentration and attention to detail has left him playing like an average (at best) safety—a big reason why he finds himself spending more time covering kicks than tracking deep passes.
However, the primary reason why Pryor has been stripped of his role as a starer is because he is not generating enough takeaways. Last season, the Jets were 31st in the NFL in turnover differential, only ahead of the woeful Houston Texans (making the fact that they won eight games even more remarkable).
| 2013 | 2 | 13 | -13 | 31 |
| 2014 (9 games) | 2 | 1 | -13 | 32 |
After using a first-round pick on a player who built a reputation on changing the course of a game with one big hit or interception, the Jets have managed to get worse in this category.
In fact, the Jets have already managed to reach their turnover differential margin in just nine games. Impressive, really.
It is not entirely Pryor's fault that the Jets find themselves even worse in what was already a weakness of the defense. Pryor should at least have a few interceptions—or at least near-interceptions—on his resume headed into the second week of November.
According to Pro Football Focus, Pryor has just one pass defense (from Week 1)—never mind an interception—on the season.
Rex Ryan can play favorites all he wants but when a safety is taking bad angles, missing tackles and not making any plays in return, why should he even be considered in the starting lineup, other than the fact that he was a first-round pick?
It goes without saying that it is far too early to write off Pryor's career just nine weeks into the season on a team that cannot get out of its own way. In fairness, Pryor was hardly put in a position to succeed with such inconsistent cornerback play around him, and safeties can take a few years to develop a natural "feel" for the NFL game.
However, there is no denying that the Jets are disappointed with the production of their first-round pick, as Ryan has already admitted as much. The Jets passed on a lot of quality players at other need positions to draft Pryor as early as they did, but they are not reaping the benefits of selecting their favorite player on the board.
Fair or not, Pryor will be on a short leash for whoever is the head coach (or general manager) next season, as they will not have nearly as much patience waiting for him to produce as the men who put their reputations on the line by drafting him.
Advanced statistics provided by ProFootballFocus.com (subscription required).
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
