The 5 O'Clock Club: “Prove it” Pryor

The 5 o’clock club aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.

There was a quiet changing of the guard last week, as Josh Doctson started against the Eagles and Terrelle Pryor was relegated to a role coming off the bench. Jay Gruden downplayed the move in the post-game press conference, saying that Doctson had been drafted to be their number one receiver.

The news isn’t so much that Doctson is getting more playing time, but that it is coming at the expense of Pryor, rather than Ryan Grant, who has been — not spectacular -- but reliable, and really for the first time in his career.

Terrelle Pryor and his ‘prove it’ year

Last week OverTheCap published a short article looking at wide receivers on one-year ‘prove it’ deals. Here’s what they had to say about Terrelle Pryor.

Josh Doctson

Meanwhile, Mark Harmon offered this on NFL.com earlier this week:

Week 7 marked a flip of the page of Washington's offense, as for the first time all season Josh Doctson worked as a primary player. The former first-round pick went out for 84 percent of the team's plays, out-doing Terrelle Pryor's 47 percent. The addition of Pryor in free agency after signing him on a mere one-year deal has not brought positive dividends to this passing-attack and it appears the tide has now turned to a player the team is more invested in.

Doctson already flashed some of the ability that made him such a tantalizing talent coming out of college. Known as a contested catch master at TCU, Doctson has shown well in tight coverage situations this year.

Among the 20 wide receivers who have seen at least 30 percent of their targets come on a tight window throw (less than one yard of separation), Doctson's passer rating when targeted of 143.8 trails only Stefon Diggs' 154.4. Kirk Cousins has a far better passer rating when throwing to Doctson in tight windows than either of Terrelle Pryor (56.3) or Jamison Crowder (42.6).

Head coach Jay Gruden indicated they will go with the hot hand at wide receiver and Kirk Cousins said after the Eagles loss "we spread it around, we always have, we always will" in relation to his outside receivers. Doctson is supplanting Pryor in a receiving role that earned more than five targets in just one game all year. It's not as if Doctson suddenly finds himself in position to inherit a massive share of the team's targets.