The Facts: Browns Executive VP Sashi Brown drew a line in the sand on Wednesday, saying that Pryor "is a priority' but "we won't panic if he's not on our roster.' He confirmed he has meetings set up with Pryor's agent, Drew Rosenhaus. A source told cleveland.com those meetings will take place here at the Combine. Brown is not expected to franchise Pryor by 4 p.m. today and "we understand that means he's effectively a free agent."

Diehards Line: Brown said he's realistic about what happens at the Combine and that teams will start to let Rosenhaus know they're interested. They're allowed to make preliminary offers March 7, but "legal tampering" always takes place before that. Multiple teams are expected to be interested. Brown said the club "values" Pryor and appreciates that he wants to be back in Cleveland. He also said there are other ways to address the receiver position, including in the draft. The franchise tag would pay Pryor about $15.8 million for 2017. Instead the Browns plan to sign Pryor to a multi-year contract, and he told the Plain Dealer last month he still wants to be back in Cleveland despite the 1-15 record last year. If the two sides can't reach an agreement, other teams can begin permissibly floating preliminary numbers to Rosenhaus on March 7th, which would set his market price. Free agency officially opens March 9th. ... Stay tuned.