BEREA, Ohio _ Impending free agent Terrelle Pryor struggles to harness his competitive fire at times, so finishing the 2016 season with a record of 1-15 can't be easy for him to swallow.
Yet Pryor believes the Browns can reverse their fortunes under coach Hue Jackson, so he has told agents Drew and Jason Rosenhaus he would like to stay in Cleveland.
"Absolutely. I told them, and we've had a lot of conversations," Pryor said Monday as players cleaned out their lockers and headed into the offseason break. "At the end of the day, as you guys know, football is a business, and [a new contract has] got to make sense for myself.
"I'd love to play for Coach Hue. I loved playing with him this year, no matter what. Despite the 1-15 record, I'm not worried about that. ... I love this place. I love Cleveland. I love the fans here. It's amazing."
Pryor's faith in Jackson stems from their close relationship and his ability to motivate the players to keep fighting after they lost the first 14 games of the season.
"[Owner] Jimmy [Haslam] said, 'We have the right guys in place in terms of coaches,' " said Pryor, who's scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on March 9. "That's definitely the truth. Obviously, we need more players. I think we're not far."
But the Browns used six quarterbacks in 2016 and still haven't solved the position.
"It's something that I think my agents have to converse about with the team," Pryor said. "But coming back here, I know Hue would have that situation handled, all the situations. Whatever holes that he thinks we have, I'm sure they'll handle it, him and [head of football operations] Sashi [Brown]."
Pryor's agents had preliminary contract extension talks with the Browns in the fall but shelved negotiations until after the season. Pryor said he expects the discussions to resume soon. The Browns could keep him without a long-term deal by placing their franchise tag on him.
No matter what happens with his contract situation, he's on the verge of receiving a huge payday.
In his first full season as a receiver, the former quarterback led the Browns with 77 catches for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns.
"Hopefully he's back," quarterback Robert Griffin III said. "We want him back."
Some of Pryor's critics doubted his transition would be a success.
"I can't really worry about the naysayers or stuff like that," he said. "So I think with that clear mind and that tunnel vision, that focus that you have to have, I think you can do anything if you're focused and you're together with your teammates and your teammates got your back and I've got their back. I think that's special."
Left tackle Joe Thomas lamented the Browns allowing key players to leave as free agents in the past and doesn't want to see the same happen with Pryor.
"You sometimes hear fans say, 'Well we were 1-15 with them, we can be 1-15 without them,' " Thomas said. "But if you want to be better than 1-15, you have to keep your good players. That's just the way it goes. You can't keep getting rid of good players and think you're going to get better. Anybody with a brain can figure that out."
Pryor, 27, will remain with the Browns for at least the next three to four weeks because he'll undergo surgery on the torn ligament in his right middle finger Wednesday in Cleveland and wants to rehabilitate with guidance of the team's medical staff. Pryor played with the injury for the final three games.
"I always point at Joe [Thomas] because I think he's the ultimate teammate and the ultimate professional," Pryor said. "The pain and stuff that he plays with and the injuries he plays with and he still continues to give his best foot forward and all the effort to be the best teammate he can be, I can go out there with some torn ligaments in my hand and try to tough it out. It's special, and the type of guys we have in here, that's the reason I wanted to finish strong with them."
