In this series of articles, our resident tape wizard Greg Cosell will take an in-depth look at some of the more interesting fantasy players for the 2020 NFL season. It’s a peek behind the curtain of the film room, as these are Greg’s raw, unfiltered notes he takes as he watches a player.
It seems like Breshad Perriman has been around forever, but he’ll be just 27 by the time the 2020 season starts. He’s going to be playing for his fourth team in four seasons, which shows just how fleeting the flashes have been for the former first-round pick. Even a fantastic run down the stretch with the Bucs in 2019 — with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin dealing with injuries — couldn’t earn Perriman a multi-year deal in a thin WR free agent market.
Does the tape from the final five games of the 2019 NFL season show a player who has managed to work past the injuries that have plagued him for five seasons, or a player the Jets can’t count on to bolster their thin receiving group?
Film Observations
Perriman stats over the final five games of 2019: 25/506/5 (20.2 YPR, 37 targets)
Perriman finished the 2019 season with three consecutive 100-yard games.
Perriman predominantly lined up on the outside in the Bucs’ offense. In 3x1 and 1x3 sets, Perriman was the #1 to trips (outermost receiver).
In 2x2 sets Perriman predominantly aligned off the ball – Perriman saw significant snaps both off the ball and on the ball, including lining up at both #3 and the point man in trips bunch, and #2 and #3 to trips.
There were snaps in which Perriman, as the boundary or field Z, was used as the movement/motion receiver, at times motioning across the formation.
When Evans got hurt versus the Colts in Week 14, Perriman played significant snaps as the boundary X on the back side of trips. He was also the X receiver in base 12 personnel groupings.
There were red zone snaps in which Perriman lined up in the slot. His 12-yard TD versus the Colts came on a back shoulder slot fade, while his 25-yard TD versus Lions also came on a slot fade.
What Perriman showed in those last five games with the Bucs was that he can line up in multiple receiver positions and locations with different splits, and run multiple routes.
Perriman presents a vertical dimension with his size/stride length/straight-line speed profile, he gets just enough on top of corners and then his size factors in. His 27-yard reception versus the Texans was a good example.
Perriman did an excellent job tracking fades and go balls – 37-yarder versus Falcons is a good example.
Perriman also showed the ability to go up and high point the ball – look at his 24-yard TD versus the Falcons.
Perriman showed good body control and hands to make sideline catches and back-shoulder catches.
Overall Perriman showed a wide catching radius and good hands with the ability to catch the ball away from his frame.
Perriman is effective on movement routes where he can use his size, stride length, and build up speed to run away from corners: go routes, over routes, sail routes, fades, crossers (both shallow and intermediate), seams, slants, “bang” 8s.
Perriman showed some physicality through his route stem, and that allowed him to create just enough separation to effectively use his big body and strong hands.
Perriman showed the physicality and short-area quickness needed to defeat press coverage and get into his routes cleanly without timing disruption.
Perriman is a little tight in his core and is also a little stiff-legged. That limits his effectiveness as a complete route runner.
Perriman is a little upright coming off the line of scrimmage into his vertical stem versus free access. At times, this prevented Perriman from effectively breaking down an off-corner’s cushion.
Perriman and Seattle’s DK Metcalf are very similar in how they should be used in an NFL passing game. Their skill sets and traits (including size) clearly dictate specific routes that best utilize those traits within the context of the passing game – at this point, given he has more experience than Metcalf, Perriman is more versatile in regards to distribution and location within formations.
