Film Room: Matt Pryor Brings Experienced Depth to the Colts' OL

The Colts made a trade for veteran offensive lineman Matt Pryor on cut down day. How does he fit with the team?

The Indianapolis Colts have made a trade on roster cut down day, acquiring veteran offensive lineman Matt Pryor and a 2022 7th round pick from the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a 2022 6th round pick.

Prior to this trade, the Colts only had one healthy offensive tackle on the roster (Julie'n Davenport). With Eric Fisher still recovering from his achilles injury, Sam Tevi tearing his ACL, and Will Holden being released, the Colts had to make a move to acquire another offensive tackle.

In today's film room, I dive into Pryor's background in the NFL and talk about some things I liked--and didn't like-- on his film.

Background

Pryor, 26, is heading into his fourth year in the NFL. He was originally a sixth round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft out of TCU. He has started 10 games in his career thus far--919 snaps in total-- and has allowed seven sacks, nine quarterback hits, and 27 hurries while starting games at left tackle, left guard, right guard, and right tackle.

Coming out of college, Pryor tested as a very poor athlete at his Pro Day. He scored well with his size and three-cone drill, but every other drill was near the bottom among offensive tackles in the RAS database.

With the 206th pick in the #NFLDraft, the #Eagles selected #MattPryor.

Pryor posted a poor #RAS with only good size and a decent 3cone as positive marks. pic.twitter.com/x4IGuNLyYL

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 28, 2018

The Film

The film section of this article is going to be fairly brief, mainly because most of Pryor's snaps look the same. He relies heavily on his size to do all the work for him in both the pass and run game. If he can't wall off his defender with his size, he typically won't win the rep.

There are rare flashes on film that are interesting, though. He had a strong game against the Cincinnati Bengals in week three last season (starting at right guard). These are two of my favorite clips, where Pryor uses the defensive tackle's leverage against him and puts him into the dirt.

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When Pryor is lined up at the guard position, he looks much more comfortable overall. He is a decent pass blocker from this spot, as it is much easier to wall off the bigger interior defenders than a speedy edge rusher.

This clip was one of his best pass blocking reps from the interior. There isn't anything flashy about the play, but Pryor is able to use his size and length to frustrate the pass rusher. He stays in front and stays square throughout the rep, and the defensive lineman is unable to create any disruption.

When Pryor bounces out to tackle, the issues become more apparent. His lack of athleticism is a major deterrent and he doesn't have the nuance or effort level to overcome this deficiency.

In the run game, he just lacks the ability to climb to the second level. This shows up when he plays on the interior or out at tackle. He is very clunky and sluggish when attempting to reach defenders. His size comes in handy in pass protection, but it tends to hurt him a good bit in the run game.

If he is playing offensive tackle, the Colts will need to heavily protect his side of the field. He has major struggles with speed rushers, as his footwork is simply too slow to prevent them from getting to the edge.

His hands are also way too sluggish at tackle. Pass blocking is often predicated on who can win the initial hand battle. It is much easier for a player to lose that battle and still survive the rep on the interior. When Pryor loses that battle on the outside though, it typically spells bad things for the offense.

Final Thoughts

Matt Pryor is a perfectly fine depth offensive lineman to have. He is an adequate interior player who can do some good things in the run game in those tight spaces. While his play at offensive tackle is poor, the Colts could do much worse for an emergency player at the position.

Is he worth the pick swap (even in such a low risk swap)? Probably not. Offensive line depth is hard to come by though, so I don't blame Chris Ballard for jumping at a decent option. Still, I would rather see the team throw rookie Will Fries out at tackle rather than Pryor if it came down to it.

Pryor isn't an incredible addition, and this trade certainly won't go down as one of Ballard's best in his career. I do like that Ballard wasn't satisfied with the group in camp and decided to go get an outside option instead of settling. Pryor should be a perfectly capable backup player for this Colts' team.

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Follow Zach on Twitter @ZachHicks2.

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