Terrelle Pryor moves to receiver, upsets Bengals, gets picked up by Browns

Terrelle Pryor had quite an interesting Monday.

Pryor, the former Ohio State mega-recruit and Oakland Raiders quarterback who was trying to win a job with the Cincinnati Bengals, officially announced in a couple of tweets that he was moving to receiver. Pryor was cut by the Bengals last week.

“Going to miss QB but I will make a great WR!” Pryor tweeted.

You won’t find those tweets on his timeline anymore, because they included a major no-no: high-angle coaches video of full team drills from the Bengals’ minicamp practices. Pryor has deleted the tweets. The videos were of him playing quarterback, which is really strange considering he was announcing his move to receiver. But either way, that’s a big violation of the NFL’s code, and according to ESPN.com the Bengals aren’t pleased about it.

“I haven’t been around another player who has done that,” a Bengals source told ESPN.com’s Coley Harvey. “By no means did we think a player would do something like that.”

And it’s fitting then that Pryor was claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Browns, the Bengals’ in-state rival, on Monday. Multiple reports said the Browns claimed him to be a receiver.

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It’s an interesting move, after Pryor hasn’t been able to establish himself as a legitimate NFL quarterback. The thing he has established, going all the way back to his days as one of the most celebrated high school athletes in recent history, is that he’s a world-class athlete. If he can translate that athleticism to receiver then maybe he could have a productive second act to his career, especially considering his 6-4, 233-pound frame. Having success after a fairly extreme position change mid-career is rare. Pryor’s move is not like moving from cornerback to safety or guard to tackle. He’ll need to learn an entirely new position on the fly, and all Browns receiver jokes aside, athletic ability alone probably won’t be enough to beat out the other skilled athletes on the roster who have played that position all their lives. Pryor would need to give the Browns a good reason to devote a roster spot to his development at a brand new position.

But Cleveland will give Pryor the chance to show what he’s got, as long as he doesn’t post the practice video on social media.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab