ABSTRACT

Subject is a 24-year-old starting quarterback for the Oakland Raiders currently in his third year in the National Football League. Subject is known throughout his profession for extraordinary athletic ability. He presents with symptoms common among inexperienced NFL quarterbacks: inaccuracy, unsteadiness and inability to deal with the pressure that comes with the game's larger moments. He shows occasional difficulty identifying defensive schemes, primarily blitzes, and struggles to make precise decisions in the fractions of seconds allotted for them. Subject admits he spent his first two seasons with the Raiders with no earthly idea how to play quarterback in the NFL. Purpose of this study is to observe and report on subject's quest to make the most of his prodigious physical gifts, for possible application by similarly endowed future NFL quarterbacks (Jameis Winston, Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel, Marcus Mariota, Braxton Miller) and teams that might employ them.

CASE HISTORY

Subject has started eight games in his professional career, and he admits that his athletic ability -- he is 6'4", 233 pounds and once ran a 4.36 40 -- lends itself to feelings of grandiosity. Before his professional career, he was consistently able to outperform opponents solely on the basis of talent. In interviews, he fondly remembers the days at Jeannette (Pa.) Senior High School and Ohio State University when he knew nobody on the field could stop him. This feeling carried over to the NFL, and it manifests itself through a desire to make big plays when the situation calls for small ones.

Subject exhibits a rare level of self-awareness for someone his age and in his station in life. His demeanor is expressive and joyful. He is remarkably open about the gaps in his knowledge and remarkably fierce about his determination to close them. His desire is raw and stark, his ambition an open wound.

Pryor admits he spent his first two seasons with the Raiders with no idea how to play QB in the NFL. AP Photo/Ben Margot

Perhaps because of his high expectations, subject tends to let the hot blame of defeat wash over him. He reports that his girlfriend "says I act like I've lost every game," even those his team has won. His well-developed sense of personal responsibility is best exemplified by his reaction to the Raiders' loss at Kansas City in Week 6. In that game, subject was sacked nine times and threw three interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. Afterward, he said he -- and he alone -- lost the game.

In a subsequent interview, subject said: "I turned the ball over and gave them plus-territory three times, and one was a pick six. I lost the game. Period."

Subject's complicated past is vital to the overall assessment. He was the top high school player in the country coming out of Jeannette, and he chose Ohio State after a protracted cross-country recruiting battle that assumed the narrative form of an episode of Judge Judy.

Subject's matriculation at Ohio State ended after three years, when the university barred him from any contact with the athletic program for five years in the aftermath of his role in NCAA violations that included trading memorabilia for tattoos. When he entered the NFL's 2011 supplemental draft -- and before the Raiders took him in the third round -- the NFL made the unprecedented decision to uphold a suspension by the NCAA that forced him to sit out the first five games of his pro career.

Subject is clearly aware of, and determined to change, any negative perceptions that persist in the public consciousness. "He has his own reasons for proving things," said Raiders center Andre Gurode.