Calvin Pryor might be new to Cleveland, but he saw a few familiar faces when he arrived to the team's facility for the first time.
After being traded to the Browns last week, the former Jets safety said he's gotten to know the likes of Joe Haden and Jamie Collins Sr. as opponents over the past three years. Now, he'll join the pair of Pro Bowlers as teammates and, perhaps, the newest piece of one of the league's youngest teams.
"I feel like it was a great opportunity," Pryor said of the trade Tuesday. "Have a fresh start, learn a new system and buy into a new culture."
Indeed, Pryor — a first-round pick in 2014 who started 38 of 44 games in New York — joins a new-look roster that welcomed a promising 2017 class that includes three first-round picks in defensive end Myles Garrett, safety Jabrill Peppers and tight end David Njoku.
Pryor also joins a defense that's currently being molded by new coordinator Gregg Williams, the fiery veteran whom head coach Hue Jackson tapped this past January.
"Everybody is buying into the culture. Coach Williams is a very intense coach, very fiery coach, guys love that. He wants to kick the offense's butt every chance he gets, so I look forward to that."
Pryor said he's confident Williams will get the most out of him and his teammates. It's also why he's not worried how the Browns might find ways to get both him and Peppers — the former Michigan standout — on the field at the same time.
"I can't speak on that because that's the coaches' job, but I do know that he is one heck of a player," Pryor said of Peppers. "I do look forward to playing with him, whether it is in different packages or we are just on the field at the same time. I know that we both can play football."
Jackson echoed a similar sentiment when asked if Pryor was better-suited for free or strong safety, saying the 24-year-old can do both.
"We're going to play the best four guys that are able to play," he said. "It's not so much, 'If a guy is at this position, that position.' One thing about Gregg, he has a lot of flexibility in his system to be able to play guys wherever we need to play them."
Added Pryor: "(Gregg has) taken multiple guys and done different things with them; like putting them in the half (field) or down in the box, just playing to their best potential," he said.
"The best guys are going to play. I look forward to competing and going out there and getting to know my teammates."
And of course, he already knows a few of them.
"I definitely know that we have some talent on this roster," he said. "We have to get the job done."
