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The main story line of this preseason has been Breshad Perriman's play, or actually, lack thereof. The Ravens' shiny new toy has been sidelined since Day 1 of Training Camp, going down with a reported PCL sprain. The injury has a timetable of six to eight weeks, meaning it's most likely that the rookie receiver will not be ready for a Week 1 debut.
Sound sort of familiar?
To some, Perriman's situation bears an eerie similarity to that of Odell Beckham's last year. And there is a little basis to that sentiment.
- Both 1st round selections
- Both gifted athletes
- Both missed practically all of training camp, preseason, and (most likely) multiple regular season games
- Both are wide receivers
- Both are NFL players
But the similarities end there. You'd be crazy to believe that Perriman can have an 'OBJ-like' impact based on the above facts. Yet it's a comparison that I've seen on several Ravens websites, and it makes my skin crawl.
The truth is, Odell was a much more polished receiver than Perriman is. There's a reason Beckham was selected with the twelfth pick and not the twenty-sixth, like Perriman. Beckham already possessed good route running, solid hands, and only needed slight polishing. For all intents and purposes, Beckham was a NFL-ready receiver. Perriman on the other hand, is an athletic phenom who has great size and speed, but is lacking everywhere else. It's going to take a lot more work to get Perriman on a NFL-level.
Now this isn't to say that Perriman will never be as good as Beckham, I just believe that our expectations should be tempered for our rookie receiver this season. Beckham's amazing season was certainly an outlier, and it's unfair to Perriman if similar expectations are being placed on him.
With Perriman potentially sidelined for the first few weeks of the season, any progress will be good progress.