Breshad Perriman: Slowly But Surely Coming Back

Breshad Perriman is back and the Baltimore Ravens should breathe a sigh of relief.

It’s been the same song and dance for Ravens wide receiver Breshad Perriman. Bad knees, training table, staying off of the practice field, etc. On Monday, Perriman was finally removed from the PUP list, but it seems like he will brought along slowly.

Perriman has kept a cool head about his whole injury situation. You can constantly see his Tweets and come to the conclusion that he seems to be a good guy, as well as thankful for his situation.

He also has had the worst of luck in the past. This is on and off of the field. His father, Brett Perriman, suffered a stroke during this offseason. Also, Perriman lost one of his closest friends on the team, Tray Walker. Complimented with injuries, things haven’t been easy for the 22-year old.

Many people have said unfair things about Perriman, calling him a “bust” or saying that he was a waste of a first-round pick. Personally, I haven’t seen the Ravens draft a receiver of his raw talent since Torrey Smith, a fan favorite. Also, the quality of a human being that Perriman seems to be should earn him a little more patience with fans.

Although this is the case, many should take his return with a grain of salt. He has to stay healthy throughout the rest of camp and return to practice every day.

“I’m sure we’ll all be holding our breath a little bit, that’s just natural,” said Ravens coach John Harbaugh.

Related Story: Ravens: Key Players Back at Practice

Harbaugh also likes Perriman’s demeanor as of right now. He has stayed positive and has continued to work through the adversity that he has faced.

“He is in great spirits,” Harbaugh said. “He has worked extremely hard. He’s really grown through all of this, and he’s learned how to really work hard with the rehab.”

Perriman will continue to take baby steps towards his full recovery. Luckily for him, those steps have come in full force today. He came back out for his second practice and he was fully padded. Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs even made a joke about the young receiver.

“Who is the new guy? Can he play”, said Suggs.

Perriman laughed it off and practiced… without re-aggravating his knee injury. That should be a very encouraging sign.

In a post from ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, Perriman seemed to be moving fine during most of the practice:

"Perriman, the No. 26 overall player taken a year ago, was on the field for the first time since partially tearing the anterior cruciate ligament on June 9. Not wearing a brace on that left knee, he showed little effects from the knee injury in running routes and making cuts.Though he wasn’t running at full speed, he showed no hesitation in any of the drills. It did appear that Perriman had a slight limp when he was walking in between drills.During the media viewing portion of practice, Perriman only participated in individual drills. He ran routes and cut around cones for about 20 minutes while the rest of the team worked on special teams. Perriman later caught passes in the red zone from all four quarterbacks, including Joe Flacco. There were a couple of times when Perriman caught the ball with one hand."

Perriman also spoke himself about his recovery process.

“[I’m] very eager,” Perriman said, via the Ravens’ website. “It’s coming real soon. I know it will be worth the wait. … I feel real good; I’m confident. I feel like my speed is there still, so I can’t complain at all.”

Great! Now what else from here? Perriman must meet more milestones, like running at full speed and participating in practice. Any time that he gets on the field during a regular season game is a plus. If the Ravens get the Perriman that they drafted last season, the speed demon and leaping ability that is matched by few, they should be able to make some noise this season.

Oh and in other news, Perriman also cut his dreads:

New year, new look. The question is, how will he look on the field? That remains to be fully seen.