If you had to identify a Jets player at the beginning of this season who was primed for a breakout year, safety Calvin Pryor would have been an understandable choice.
Pryor is in his third season. He seemed to improve in 2015 in coach Todd Bowles’ system, and Pryor appeared ready to take the next step toward realizing the potential he showed when the team drafted him in the first round in 2014.
But you would have been wrong.
Pryor has not progressed this season. If anything, he has taken a step backward from last year. He has no interceptions and no sacks, despite being a frequent blitzer. His only impact play has been a forced fumble. He has delivered some big hits, but he also has shown an inability to play in space and has been a liability in coverage.
On Thursday, Pryor said the season has not gone the way he had hoped, but did not give a very expansive answer when asked why he thinks things have gone wrong. He said he is not worried about how fans view him.
“I’ve got nothing to prove to the fans [or] the outside world,” Pryor said. “It’s all about me. I’ve got to look myself in the mirror. That’s all I’m worried about.”
If he is being honest with himself when he is looking in the mirror, he has to be upset with the way he has played. While Landon Collins has become a star at safety for the Giants, Pryor has been a disappointment for the Jets. The high hopes for him coming out of Louisville have shrunk. There is a question of whether the Jets even will pick up his fifth-year option for 2018, a decision they must make this spring.
“He’s made some strides,” Bowles said. “He’s had some good games. He’s had some not-so-good ballgames. But from an experience standpoint, mentally, yes, physically, out of position at times. There are some things that he’s still growing on as a player, which is getting better, but he’s making some strides.”
Coaches chose their words carefully this week when asked about Pryor.
Pro Football Focus has Pryor rated as the 81st safety out of 91 graded. He ranks 86th in coverage.
Still, Pryor had an interesting answer when asked if he has progressed as much as he had hoped this year.
“I’m in a comfortable place,” Pryor said.
“When I look back at [Pryor], early on I thought he had a slow start, but as the season went on, I thought he kind of really made some plays and kind of steadied out,” Rodgers said.
Pryor, 24, agreed he started off poorly.
“The first couple of games I got off to a slow start,” Pryor said.
Why?
“I have no idea,” he said.
Pryor is part of a secondary that has allowed 12 passes of 40 yards or more this season, tied for fourth-most in the NFL.
“It is what it is at this point,” Pryor said. “I think we’ve gotten better as a group. There’s going to be plays that are made out there on the football field. Everybody gets paid to play this game. We’re playing with the best of the best, so things are going to happen.”
