Film Room: How Did Matt Pryor Perform in His Starts this Season?
Indianapolis Colts General Manager Chris Ballard made a seemingly insignificant trade late in the offseason, sending a 6th round pick for offensive tackle Matt Pryor and a 7th round pick.
Pryor was added mainly as depth prior to the season, and I highly doubt the team thought he would start games this early in the year. However, that all changed when right tackle Braden Smith went down with an injury in week one of the season. Julie'n Davenport filled in the next three weeks, but he struggled big time.
Those two factors led to the Colts turning to Pryor in week five against the Baltimore Ravens. In his three starts since then, Pryor has been one of the Colts' highest graded offensive linemen (according to PFF) and has allowed just one QB hit and four hurries over that span.
So today, with Smith likely returning to the starting role this Sunday, I decided to take a look back on how Pryor performed in his brief stint as a starter, and if he can be someone the team can rely on going forward.
Run Blocking
Pryor is not built like typical offensive tackles. He is simply a massive human being, standing at 6'7" 338 pounds. This size helps him quite a bit in the run game, especially in the Colts' duo/gap-heavy scheme.
He isn't the most overpowering player, but he is simply hard to get around when he gets his hands on a defensive lineman. Here, he gets good positioning on Houston Texans' defensive end Jonathan Greenard.
Once Pryor gets to his spot, all he has to do his keep his feet moving and drive his player out of the frame. He has nearly 60 pounds on his opponent here, and it certainly shows. This play isn't anything flashy, but his size and strength certainly show up as an advantage against defensive ends on film.
This clip above is pretty par for the course in the run game for Pryor. He struggles to get to the second-level on zone run plays, but he excels at overpowering his man at the point of attack.
I won't include anymore run play clips in this article though, as the main focus for the right tackle position (especially with how Davenport struggled) is pass blocking.
Positives in Pass Pro
As I mentioned above, Pryor is a behemoth of a human being. With his size, there comes some noticeable positives and negatives.
Focusing on just the positives to start, he has powerful hands that can pop some of the better pass rushers in the league. This clip against Justin Houston may be his best of the year. Houston is feasting on opposing tackles this year for Baltimore, but Pryor quickly shut him down on this rep.
Houston attempts to win to the outside with what appears to be a cross-chop move. Pryor gets his hands inside quickly and is able to rock Houston off his landmark. This quick punch and displacement by Pryor stops the rush in it's tracks.
Another positive with Pryor's size is just how hard he is to move. While I think some speed rushers can give him issues, I've yet to see him get walked back into the backfield when facing a bullrush. This speaks volumes to his anchor in pass protection.
Greenard attempts to mix up his pass rush plan on this rep by converting speed to power on Pryor. Pryor is simply having none of it, and he stops the rush in it's tracks before it can even get started. He stymies Greenard at the point of attack and is able to hold his own until Carson Wentz bails from the pocket.
Greenard is more of a speed rusher, which has given Pryor some issues in the past. Pryor simply dominated this match-up from start to finish in this game, though.
In the first clip, Greenard tries to shoot the inside gap and force Pryor to move laterally quickly. Pryor responds by shooting his hands inside and catching Greenard off guard. He then proceeds to drive Greenard out of the play with great footwork.
On the second clip, Pryor gets just enough contact on the outside to force Greenard's rush out wide. Nothing flashy on this play, but he does give Wentz just enough time to step up and make a play.
Negatives in Pass Pro
So, you are probably reading this and wondering why Pryor isn't a full time starter for some team. The main reason is his struggles with speed rushers and speed moves. He had some good moments against Greenard, but he did get beat a bit by more experienced (Houston, Dee Ford) or explosive (Jayson Oweh) rushers.
The way that the Colts aggressively set in pass protection did help Pryor quite a bit, but there were still some low points. Houston attempts the same inside move that Greenard tried above, but Houston sets it up much better.
The slight outside jab is all Houston needs to beat Pryor to the inside and get the quarterback hit on Wentz.
Oweh also beats Pryor inside pretty effortlessly on the same drive in the Ravens' game. While Oweh is an other-worldly athlete, it is easy to see some of Pryor's limitations on this play.
For him to improve and take another step forward, he has to learn to get that inside arm up quicker to wall off the inside. His foot speed may never be great, but improving his hand speed could go a long way for his career.
Pryor is just a very limited athlete, and he hasn't completely learned how to mitigate those issues yet. He has spurts of lunging in pass protection, which leads to easy wins for speed rushers in a wide-nine position.
Notice Pryor's footwork on this rep. He attempts to kick slide out wide, but turns into a mini-run to his landmark when he notices the edge rusher beating him to the spot. A better athlete can close up that space with the initial slide, but Pryor has to run and attack while off balance to get a hand on his edge rusher.
Final Thoughts
While the film clips did end a bit on a negative note, I was very impressed with how Pryor played in his three starts this year. He has some obvious physical limitations, but he showed that he can be a plus player in the run game and hold his own in pass protection.
At the end of the day, that is all anyone can ask of a backup/swing offensive tackle.
Overall, I don't think Pryor will ever be a full-time starter in the NFL. I do think that he can be a really solid swing tackle for the Colts, though.
Follow Zach on Twitter @ZachHicks2.
