Kirby Lee – USA Today Sports
With 2013 fantasy football drafts approaching, now is the time to dig deep for the lesser-known names you can grab late in drafts — the deep sleepers that could reward you with great value as the season progresses.
One of those names is Oakland Raiders QB Terrelle Pryor. At the moment, Pryor is not considered a starter. After trading away last year’s starter Carson Palmer, the Raiders made a move to bring in Matt Flynn.
Flynn, however, is best known for basically one game. After a few years in the Packers system, he came in for one game in Week 17 back in 2011 and threw for 480 yards and six touchdowns. Impressive? Sure. But this was one game against a subpar Detroit Lions secondary which ranked 22nd in the league in passing yards per game that season. Along with that fact, Flynn had also spent almost four full seasons with clipboard in hand on the Packers’ sideline, so he knew the offense as well as anyone.
Nonetheless, he was awarded by the Seattle Seahawks last offseason with a three-year, $19.5 million contract with $10 million guaranteed. After being given all that money, he couldn’t even win the starting gig in the pre-season and barely played all year.
Now, he’s on the Raiders and listed as the starter entering training camp, but Pryor will have every chance to win the job from the unproven Flynn. With the presence of guys like Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson (who beat out Flynn for the starter’s role last year) and many more, mobile quarterbacks are sweeping the league, and that’s exactly what Pryor is.
Pryor has thrown just 30 passes in his career and has started only one game. In that start last season, Pryor was only 13-for-28 for 150 yards, but he did throw for two touchdowns and also showed off his legs with 49 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. Those may not be dazzling numbers, but that is a pretty good fantasy game for sure. Should Pryor get the chance, his legs will make him a very intriguing starting option in leagues this year. One other obstacle, however, is the presence of rookie QB Tyler Wilson. All notes from OTAs are that the rookie out of Arkansas has been the most impressive passer of the bunch thus far. Pryor will have to now outperform him as well.
Unless he is named the starter this pre-season, you won’t need to draft Pryor in standard leagues, but owners in those leagues should keep him on their watch list. In deeper leagues, he is worth stashing as a late-round draft pick. He is also someone to own in dynasty and keeper leagues moving forward as he is still just 24.
Rich Arleo is a fantasy sports expert with Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @Rarleo, ‘Like’ him on Facebook and add him to your networks on Google.
