Browns are already Brownsing up free agency by not locking up Terrelle Pryor

The Browns are in an ideal position to make some noise in free agency. Cleveland has over $104 million in available cap space, so ponying up $10 to $12 million per year for Terrelle Pryor, the team’s leading receiver in 2016 by a long shot, has to be an easy choice, right? Well, apparently not for the Browns.

Pryor finished the 2016 season with 1,007 receiving yards despite inconsistent play from five different quarterbacks. After the Browns’ 1-15 finish, Pryor said he wanted to remain in Cleveland and continue to play for head coach Hue Jackson.

General manager Sashi Brown said that the preference was to sign Pryor to an extension rather than apply the franchise tag, which would have netted Pryor nearly $16 million for 2017. The transition tag, which would have given Cleveland the opportunity to match any offer made by a competing team, was also an option the Browns declined to pursue with Pryor.

“I think we’d like to have Terrelle back and that’s a priority for us,” Brown said at the NFL Combine last week. “That said, we’re not going to panic if he’s not back, also.”

Cleveland is confident in its own analytics and the accuracy those numbers bring to market value projections for Browns players. CBS.com’s Joel Corry projects Pryor’s value at $12 million per year. Pryor’s asking price is over $10 million per year, according to the Lake County Sentinel’s Jeremy Somerville, and the Browns are standing firm around $8 million per year.

“It’s free agency, so (players) get to make a choice and a decision, too,” head coach Hue Jackson said. “Hopefully, he’ll make the right one and stay here with us.”

But if the Browns are offering significantly less than other teams, the right choice for Pryor may not be to stay in Cleveland.

ESPN’s Tony Grossi points out that the Browns were correct about the market value for tackle Mitchell Schwartz last offseason, but when Schwartz tried to come back and accept the Browns’ previous offer, Cleveland said it was no longer on the table. The Browns’ offensive line suffered with Schwartz and center Alex Mack gone. It was short-sighted on Cleveland’s part to not welcome Schwartz back.

The Browns also decided to move on from wide receiver Taylor Gabriel after the preseason. Gabriel was productive in 2014, with 621 receiving yards and a touchdown, but he had a down year in 2015, with just 241 receiving yards. The Falcons signed Gabriel after his release from the Browns, and he was a key component of Atlanta’s top-scoring offense last season.

It would be self-defeating for the Browns to let Pryor walk, too. Pryor is drawing interest from wide receiver-needy teams around the league, including the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans, and Pittsburgh Steelers, and his departure from Cleveland seems like a real possibility.

If the Browns aren’t entirely sold on Pryor being a bona fide No. 1 wide receiver after just one year at the position, that’s understandable. But the wide receiver market changed with Antonio Brown’s new deal, which averages $17 million per year. If Pryor’s asking price is $10 to $12 million, it doesn’t even approach top dollar.

The Browns are risking letting Pryor walk because they’re quibbling over a couple million dollars. In the context of the $104 million in available cap Cleveland has to work with, it seems ridiculous.

Cleveland has too much cap space to justify turning its back on a receiver who was productive in spite of a revolving door of injured and subpar quarterbacks, especially one who has been vocal about wanting to remain in Cleveland after a 1-15 season.