The Buffalo Bills, a team starved for starting-caliber players at nearly every offensive position, signed former quarterback and current wide receiver Terrelle Pryor on Tuesday not long after it was revealed that starting quarterback Derek Anderson is in the concussion protocol, likely giving Nathan Peterman another chance to start and add to his already impressive interception total. All signs indicate the Bills signed Pryor to play receiver, but the news of the signing has the NFL community wondering if the Bills might be better off starting Pryor rather than Peterman against the Bears on Sunday.
It's not an unfair suggestion. Now that Pryor is on the Bills' roster, he might not just be their best receiver. He also might be their best quarterback.
I am dead serious with this: If Nathan Peterman is the best option this weekend at QB for the Bills, they'd be better off letting newly-signed WR Terrelle Pryor give it a try.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) October 30, 2018
Terrelle Pryor, a WR, may get into the building mid-week, and he may honestly be a better bet to play QB than Peterman this weekend. https://t.co/5VBBCLjhaM
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) October 30, 2018
Terrelle Pryor (career passer rating 69.3) is a better quarterback than Nathan Peterman (career passer rating 31.4).
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) October 30, 2018
I'm not being snarky when I say that, I honestly believe Terrelle Pryor can walk into the facility today and be more ready to lead the Bills' offense by Sunday.
Terrelle Pryor is the best WR and QB on the Bills’ roster, and he signed with them today.
— Sean Wagner-McGough (@seanjwagner) October 30, 2018
What's revealing is that Bills coach Sean McDermott refused to completely shut down the possibility of it happening. He didn't say he'd consider it, but he also didn't deny it.
Sean McDermott confirmed @JosinaAnderson report that Terrelle Pryor is traveling back to Buffalo, but declines further comment. Doesn’t say whether Pryor could play QB given injuries.
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) October 30, 2018
That Sean McDermott was asked about, and did not totally dismiss the possibility of Terrelle Pryor signing and playing quarterback this week, says it all about the #Bills' current situation at that position.
— Jay Skurski (@JaySkurski) October 30, 2018
Pryor, who played quarterback for three seasons at Ohio State, actually has better NFL statistics than Peterman, who is the only healthy quarterback on the Bills' roster.
Before transitioning to receiver, Pryor started 10 games for the Raiders from 2012-13. In his career, he's won three starts, completed 56.3 percent of his passes, averaged 6.4 yards per pass, thrown a touchdown on 2.9 percent of his passes and an interception on 3.9 percent of his passes, and posted a 69.3 passer rating. Peterman has won one start, completed 45.7 percent of his passes, averaged 4.4 yards per attempt, thrown a touchdown on 3.7 percent of his passes and an interception on 11.1 percent of his passes, and posted a 31.4 passer rating. By almost every stat, Pryor has been better -- and that's without factoring in Pryor's athleticism, which the Bills could harness with a run-heavy game-plan.
There's an argument to be made that Pryor won't be able to learn an entire offense by Sunday, but keep in mind that the Bills started Derek Anderson 12 days after signing him. The Bills could run some simplified version of their offense and use a ton of zone-read type of plays with Pryor and LeSean McCoy and it'd be more effective than their full offense with Peterman at the helm.
Regardless, it seems more likely that Pryor will play receiver, and that should also help the Bills considering their starting receivers are Kelvin Benjamin and Zay Jones. Pryor struggled to latch onto the Redskins and Jets over the past two seasons after breaking out with the Browns, but he's still totaled 111 catches, 1,482 yards, and seven touchdowns since 2016. After eight weeks, the Bills' leading receiver is Jones, who has caught 25 passes for 281 yards and one touchdown. According to ESPN's Mike Rodak, Bills receivers are averaging a league-low 93 receiving yards per game.
Meanwhile, in other news, the Bills might have found Peterman's backup for Sunday's game.
Free agent QB Matt Barkley is set to visit Buffalo tomorrow afternoon. Could sign this week and potentially be the Bills number 2 QB on Sunday. @gmfb @nflnetwork @nflnetwork
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) October 30, 2018
Through eight weeks, the Bears have the best defense in football while the Bills have the worst offense by DVOA.
Sunday might be a bloodbath.