Can Kevin White, Breshad Perriman break out in delayed debuts?
The Chicago Bears and the Baltimore Ravens are getting extra first-round picks this year. The same is true for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cincinnati Bengals. These teams were robbed of rookie seasons from their respective 2015 first round-picks because of injury, and now Kevin White, Breshad Perriman, Dante Fowler, and Cedric Ogbuehi will return to their teams from serious ailments. The Bengals drafted Ogbuehi knowing that he most likely would not contribute in his rookie season, but the other teams dealt with unfortunate circumstances that are too often facts of life with this great game. But let’s just focus on how two young, ultra-talented wide receivers might influence both Chicago and Baltimore’s offenses in 2016.
First off, I really like the talents of both White and Perriman. They can be stars. Secondly, adding these two to a pair of teams that look to be on the rise from a year ago - and also added another top-11 talent in the 2016 draft - is an awfully nice influx of talent to the Bears and Ravens.
In Chicago, gone is offensive coordinator Adam Gase, but John Fox is still in charge. The Bears are going to run the ball. Chicago got nice value in selecting Jordan Howard in the fifth round - a power back in the mold of Stephen Davis that Fox will love - and also upgraded the offensive line by signing Bobbie Massie. Massie effectively upgrades two positions, as he allows Kyle Long to move back to guard from right tackle. The Bears also got great value by selecting Cody Whitehair in the second round. Left tackle is a huge problem spot, but they could have one of the best sets of guards in the league before long.
How does this affect White? First of all, he's a rare combination of size, power, speed, and overall movement skills. In a league loaded with athletic freaks at wide receiver, few are in White’s class. However, not only did White miss his rookie season, he also entered the league with his game in need of much refinement. White is very unpolished, but in Chicago’s offensive scheme - and Alshon Jeffery attracting a massive amount of coverage on the opposite side of White - the young receiver falls into an excellent situation to gradually sharpen his skills while initially relying on pure athleticism. White is also a pretty good run-blocker and will team with Jeffery to give Chicago excellent size on the perimeter - both qualities Fox will surely love.
In Baltimore, things are a little more difficult to read. The Bears did very little this offseason at the wide receiver position, which obviously shows their faith in White’s return. But that isn’t true at all with the Ravens.
Kamar Aiken was impressive last year and returns as a move-the-chains option, while Steve Smith unexpectedly has returned for one more season. Joe Flacco has been at his best with a safety-valve option as his favorite target (think Derek Mason). Aiken and Smith are perfect for this role.
The deep ball is also a true staple of the Ravens’ offense under Flacco, who has elite arm talent and is a very good deep-ball thrower. Torrey Smith was very effective as a deep option, and it appeared as though Perriman was drafted in the first round to take over in this capacity. But then Baltimore went out and signed Mike Wallace and drafted Chris Moore in the fourth round. While Perriman’s upside is far greater than Smith, Wallace, or Moore, these signings are a red flag for what Baltimore thinks of Perriman’s quick return. Pretty much all Wallace does well is run fast in a straight line outside the numbers, and Moore is a field-stretcher as well.
Should we look too much into these acquisitions? Maybe. The NFL pulls back the curtain with free agency and the draft, giving us a glimpse of what teams truly think of their rosters. But Wallace also wasn’t super expensive, and only the Browns had more draft picks than the Ravens, so adding a receiver in the draft doesn’t seem too earth-shattering. They had to use their surplus of picks somewhere.
Baltimore’s wide receiver situation has become very crowded all of a sudden, but there isn’t a wideout on this team that comes close to being as gifted as Perriman, who has some Julio Jones-like qualities. The Ravens now have some insurance, though, if Perriman is slow to recover. And even if Perriman is 100 percent, he, like White, may have a somewhat-steep learning curve in the NFL. But the payoff can be huge.
In conclusion, White and Perriman are gigantic additions to their respective offenses, but it might take both players a little while before they are lighting up scoreboards across the NFL.