Breshad Perriman’s time with the Ravens since being drafted by the organization with their 2015 first round draft has been bumpy, to say the least. Perriman who many thought would be the Ravens number one wide receiver has not lived up to the hype at all.
Perriman who played college football for Central Florida has only caught 40 receptions for 553 yards and three touchdowns which all came last year. But, sure a couple poor years isn’t great but getting rid of him seems a little extreme, right? Let’s take a look at his problems and if getting rid of him is too extreme.
Dropped Passes
Perriman looked good coming out of college but many scouts picked up on his consistency to drop passes. Even with this plainly showing many Ravens fans supported the pick and thought that they wouldn’t carry over. They were more concerned with Perrimans deep shot ability and speed.
But, the drops have carried over and the stats have not been pretty. Per Pro Football Reference Perriman had a catch rate of just 50% last year while this year it is 24.1%! It is downright impossible to be a good NFL wide receiver when you only catch half or less of the passes thrown to you!
Perrimans continuously dropping passes has also destroyed his one upside which is being quick and a deep threat downfield. Perriman’s longest reception this year has been just 14 yards! This is easy to comprehend when you realize he has only caught seven passes on 29 targets! Also, why is it important to be fast if you just get open and drop the ball?
Lack Of Connection With Flacco
Nobody who watches a Ravens game has to be an expert football analysis to realize something is missing with Flacco and Perriman. Sure you can just blame it on Flacco, but he obviously had a connection with Dennis Pitta and Anquan Boldin.
This lack of connection also is tied to “Perriman dropping passes”. After all who wants to throw to someone who just makes your stats go down and the team worse as well. There just seems to be a lack of trust with Flacco to Perriman and nobody should blame him.
Believe me when I say this. I am no NFL quarterback but if I was in Flacco’s position there would barely a chance that I would throw to Perriman when you have veterans Jeremy Maclin, Mike Wallace, and Benjamin Watson who have proven they can come down with the ball.
Management and Coaching Staff
The Ravens offense hasn’t really been the same since Ravens, former offensive coordinator, Gary Kubiak left after the 2014 season. The offense went from a team who let quarterback Joe Flacco use his incredible arm and fire downfield. As, well as hitting most passes for decent gains. To a team who turned their great quarterback into “Checkdown Joe” as this stat shows.
Percentage of Joe Flacco pass yards coming on throws 20+ yards downfield
2012: 28.8%
'13: 18.7%
'14: 16.6%
'15: 15.9%
'16: 12.9%, career low pic.twitter.com/szwZSRkDyN— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) April 12, 2017
How this offense is being run right now with the short passes and Flacco being a “game manager” sure isn’t helping struggling Perriman in any way.
Injuries
This has been more so Perriman’s rookie year and last year. But, none the least he has suffered many injuries. Some even during his childhood. Among many high school and college injuries.
But his first NFL injury is the worst. In which it was during his rookie year in 2015 when he tore his PCL and missed his entire rookie season without even playing a game. Follow that up with an ACL sprain some hamstring problems and a concussion.
Sure Perriman hasn’t suffered any injuries this season, but for a guy plagued with injuries his whole entire life they never really go away. If you looked at Perriman’s injury history you probably couldn’t tell that Perriman has only played in 25 games. Imagine in the next 50 games when the wear and tear actually start hitting him.
So Is It Time To Get Rid Of Breshad Perriman?
The biggest concern with Perriman is that his problems aren’t easily fixed. For example, he can’t just arrive one Sunday and suddenly not drop any more passes and have a stellar connection with Flacco and the coaching staff while staying perfectly healthy.
These things take time and we live in a world in the NFL now where people expect results from first rounders fast. To compile that with the fact that the Ravens have other promising pass-catchers who have already shown themselves like Chris Moore, Nick Boyle, and Michael Campanaro.
So, maybe releasing him is a little bit extreme, but the Ravens shouldn’t confuse his skills with the round he was drafted in. Give the guys mentioned above more time on the field to show Perriman that soon he won’t always be the Ravens ” precious former first rounder ” but rather go down as one of the Ravens biggest draft busts ever.
If Perriman continues the poor play and doesn’t step it up a notch, expect him to be gone from the squad in the next one to three years. In my book, he is lucky he made it this far.
