Calvin Pryor settled into playing safety and it should pay off for the Jets

In his first two seasons, Jets safety Calvin Pryor has played two different positions for two different defensive-minded head coaches in two 3-4 schemes that weren’t exactly identical, so you can probably understand why he’s still going through some growing pains as a pro. Last season he was back to his more normal position of strong safety after injuries forced him to play free safety as a rookie. You could tell he was much more comfortable playing closer to the line on a regular basis. While he had a decent year with 69 tackles, two interceptions and an forced fumble, I think he is primed for much better production this season.

Just being in the same system and at the same position should allow Pryor to play faster and with more confidence this year. Reaction time is everything for a safety; it can be the difference between making a tackle on a running back near the line of scrimmage or missing the tackle altogether. It can be the difference between breaking up a pass, intercepting a pass or a touchdown. It can also be the difference between being Johnny on the spot when a teammate forces the ball out, be it a pass or a run, and/or the other team recovering the football.

These are all situations that talented players who know exactly what they are supposed to do and where they are supposed to go find themselves in every game.

Pryor is the type of guy who can be a big play magnet when he is playing with confidence because his reaction time is so good when he recognizes there is a play to be made.

One thing that will also help him make more plays this year is better footwork. I know that not every coach makes their defensive backs actually backpedal when getting back into coverage, but when I watch the best strong safeties like Kam Chancellor, Eric Berry and TJ Ward, those guys all still have good footwork at the snap of the football. I am a big believer in footwork for anybody, especially for defensive backs. It allows them to transition better when they break up on the football and puts them in better position to make plays.

With Pryor, and I don’t know if that’s just the way they coach it with the Jets or not, he didn’t really backpedal much initially at all, even when he was the single high safety back deep. Instead he just sort of went to wherever he was supposed to go, footwork be damned. That’s fine sometimes for sure, but there were plenty of plays where I thought he could’ve gotten a better break on the ball with better footwork.

I don’t know for sure that this will change this year, but I suspect that when a guy is still trying to get a feel for where they are supposed to be in different coverages, their footwork may take a backseat to just trying to be in the right position. The more comfortable they get with the coverages, the more they can go back to focusing on using the correct footwork to get there as well.

Even if his footwork doesn’t change, Pryor showed last year that he can do just about everything that you want your strong safety to do. He matched up with tight ends at the line of scrimmage, and he held his own even though he is a bit undersized at 5’11 and 207 pounds. He came up hard and splattered running backs when he was in the box like a much bigger guy as well.

Maybe the only area where I think he needs a bit of improvement, other than his footwork, is his blitzing. He is going to have to learn to dip and rip and avoid the blocker while not taking a route where he runs past the depth of the quarterback. It would also help if he stopped trying to jump and block passes and instead just ran through the passer. I’m not a big proponent of knocking passes down anyway when there is an opportunity to splatter a quarterback by coming untouched on a blitz. With Pryor being back to his more natural position of strong safety, I expect his sack numbers to go up along with his interception numbers.

In his third year in the league and his second year in head coach Todd Bowles’ scheme, Calvin Pryor should be ready to turn all the way up this year on the field. We talk about the Jets’ front seven a lot because they have been so dominant, but if Pryor plays like I believe he will, their secondary might be just as fire this year. There is no doubt that Pryor has enough natural ability to be one of the best safeties in the league. Now he has to go out there and prove it.