Ravens first-round wide receiver Breshad Perriman frustrated by injury

We as fans can sometimes forget that football players are real people. They want to play, they want to enjoy the sport that they are fortunate enough to participate in, and they want to make the fans happy. When an injury pops up, it hurts them both physically and mentally. In the case of Breshad Perriman, it was frustrating and disappointing to him just as much as it was to us fans.

According to Jon Meoli, Perriman was clearly upset at teammate Michael Campanaro's Toys for Tots drive, not wanting to discuss his injury very much.

It’s been a little frustrating, but I’ll get over it. I’ll be fine.

Perriman fell on the knee after he lept to catch a pass on the first day of training camp on July 30th. Initially diagnosed as a bruise, the diagnosis switched over to a sprained PCL. Perriman was able to return to practice for a short time before aggravating the injury during pregame warm-ups against the Cincinnati Bengals in week 3. Perriman would eventually undergo a knee scope for what has been described as an injection of stem cells to help speed the healing process.

Head coach John Harbaugh has been just as confused about the extent of the injury as fans have been. What was supposed to be a relatively simple PCL sprain that should have healed within training camp, has lasted all season long.

I can’t say I was real involved in that [decision]. It was Ozzie [Newsome], the doctors and Breshad just kind of going over the situation. I know that when Ozzie told me this, we were very hopeful that we could get him out there. We just waited as long as we could to see if that could happen, and it just didn’t look like it could happen. That’s really just the extent that I’m aware of it.

Harbaugh did reiterate that Perriman's injury isn't a permanent issue.

[There's no permanent issue] that I've been told, but to me, it's still a hard one to understand.

There’s better people to ask than me about that. I’m just disappointed.

The disappointment in being a first-round pick that has not been able to see the field this season in any capacity is one that is wearing on Perriman as well. Harbaugh stated that Perriman had been "hard to talk to before" due to the disappointment and frustration he clearly felt.

You just couldn’t talk to him. You see him around, he was kind of just so down about the whole thing. He seemed a little more at peace with his future, and he’s excited about the progress he’s making, but when you see him, you should just ask him where he’s at with it.

Perriman does seem to have his head in the right place now that the decision has been made to shelve him for the remainder of the 2015 season. If his tweet is any indication of where he is at mentally, the Ravens and fans should be excited to see him in 2016.

It's a huge disappointment not being able to play my first year in the NFL, but I will come back harder than ever. pic.twitter.com/uN00HZYEFE

— Breshad Perriman (@B_Perriman11) November 17, 2015