A.T. Perry waived (Unclaimed off waivers); Perry signs to the Broncos practice squad (1 Viewer)

[Elvis]

in stats when you have a small sample size, like 12 catches, then you know better than to compare that stat with something of a much larger sample size.

To show sample size in better light, K Miller had a yards per target hirer than Shaheed. You gonna tell me Miller is a better long ball receiver than Shaheed?

In 2022 Kevin White led the team in yards per target.
in 2021 Lil Jordan Humphries leas the team in YPT
in 2020 Adam Troutman
in 2019 Jared Cook
in 2028 Tommylee Lewis is number 1, Cameron Meredith was number 2


Sorry, your yards per target doesn't impress me much.

Once again, I'm not saying he was our best player. I'm saying that he was productive in the snaps he was given. It's obvious that he wasn't given much opportunity, but he made the most out of his snaps and targets. I can't invent stats for snaps he didn't get. But he did more last year than the three guys we kept this year are doing.

 

[sfidc3]

Yep. He's made for broken plays where a gun slinging QB who thinks he can make any throw, throws a ridiculous pass across the field and he catches it because he's taller than the other guy.

Being 6' 5" is an advantage at times, but it's about all he really has. That and he has solid hands. But, he's not a great route runner and he plays like a fines guy who happens to be 6' 5". His best skill is as a deep ball threat and we already have two guy who do that better than him.

Like I said, I think he he has some physical skill, mostly height, that you can't teach, but he doesn't run good routes and he apparently can't learn the playbook. And if you can't do that, you can't get on the field to make plays.

Small sample sizes work both ways, we saw some of what he could do, we didn’t see enough to definitively say what he can’t do….We will see if he gets the chance….I think it was a mistake to cut him…..

 

[St. Widge]

Just saying. AT was tied for 2nd in TDs last season on WAY less snaps. Second only behind Jimmy Graham in TD percentage. Better catch percentage than Olave and Shaheed. Led the team in yards per target.

I'm not saying he's the best guy on the team or anything, but even Pete Carmichael was able to use him somewhat efficiently. It's sad that they couldn't find a use for him at least in limited snaps in the red zone.

I think he has the advantage of height, has solid hands, and is good when plays break down, but I don't think that's enough when he doesn't run good routes and can't learn the playbook. You just can't have a guy out there who isn't running the routes he is supposed to run because it results in Interceptions and the QB taking hits because he isn't where he is supposed to be.

Still I would have liked to have kept him because he does have that advantage and he did make some plays in a small sample size, but it was a numbers game because of the OL injuries. He offsets some of the route issues and not running correct routes by being good when the play breaks down, but first you have to run the play that was called correctly.

If I recall correctly, he was one of the WRs who were not running correct routes last year which resulted in Kodi Burns going. And those are the kinds of lack of attention to detail that Pete Carmichael was allowing to happen. Kubiak is not putting up with that which is likely why Perry was #6 on the depth chart and expendable.

 

[RJS]

Once again, I'm not saying he was our best player. I'm saying that he was productive in the snaps he was given. It's obvious that he wasn't given much opportunity, but he made the most out of his snaps and targets. I can't invent stats for snaps he didn't get. But he did more last year than the three guys we kept this year are doing.

To be fair, Wilson/Tipton/Means have all been more productive through 5 games than A.T. was through 5 games last year.

 

[St. Widge]

Small sample sizes work both ways, we saw some of what he could do, we didn’t see enough to definitively say what he can’t do….We will see if he gets the chance….I think it was a mistake to cut him…..

It's a small sample size to us, but the coaches saw him all offseason, in OTAs, in camp, in preseason games, in meetings, and in practice. They have a pretty good idea what he can and can't do and their sample size is much larger than ours. Not being great in practice is one thing, but if he's running wrong routes in practice, he's going to do it in games. And Kubiak mentioned that he is a strong believer that you play how you practice. Being willing to let players get away with being sloppy and lack of attention to detail is what we all criticized Carmichael for.

Being cut might be the motivation he needs to put in time to run better routes and learn the playbook. He might become a good player in the future, but he's run the wrong routes and/or didn't know the playbook for two years in a row. I think they wanted to keep him but it was a numbers game due to injuries and a guy that needs to learn the offense and learn better routes needs to be on the practice squad. And I can't help but noticing that the 31 other NFL teams agreed since they all passed on picking him up on waivers and putting him on their 53. Even Denver only put him on their practice squad and that's what we offered but he refused.

So I think the moral of this story is that all 32 NFL teams think he is a practice squad level player, despite making some plays last year. But, maybe all 32 NFL teams are wrong about him. It wouldn't be the first time that happened.

 

[SWJJ]

Small sample sizes work both ways, we saw some of what he could do, we didn’t see enough to definitively say what he can’t do….We will see if he gets the chance….I think it was a mistake to cut him…..

Once again, I'm not saying he was our best player. I'm saying that he was productive in the snaps he was given. It's obvious that he wasn't given much opportunity, but he made the most out of his snaps and targets. I can't invent stats for snaps he didn't get. But he did more last year than the three guys we kept this year are doing.

Dude played 343 snaps

read it again, 343 snaps, and had 12 catches.


He had PLENTY of chances. But he can't get open, can't produce, despite having seen 343 snaps.

 

[Elvis]

I think he has the advantage of height, has solid hands, and is good when plays break down, but I don't think that's enough when he doesn't run good routes and can't learn the playbook. You just can't have a guy out there who isn't running the routes he is supposed to run because it results in Interceptions and the QB taking hits because he isn't where he is supposed to be.

Still I would have liked to have kept him because he does have that advantage and he did make some plays in a small sample size, but it was a numbers game because of the OL injuries. He offsets some of the route issues and not running correct routes by being good when the play breaks down, but first you have to run the play that was called correctly.

If I recall correctly, he was one of the WRs who were not running correct routes last year which resulted in Kodi Burns going. And those are the kinds of lack of attention to detail that Pete Carmichael was allowing to happen. Kubiak is not putting up with that which is likely why Perry was #6 on the depth chart and expendable.

That can all be true. But we don't have any size at WR and great hands aren't something we have either. I mean, throw the guy on some go routes and let him be the guy that has a change to catch some of Carr's throw away balls when the pocket breaks down. Shaheed and Olave at 6 feet tall are hardly going to beat out DBs of the same size.

To be fair, Wilson/Tipton/Means have all been more productive through 5 games than A.T. was through 5 games last year.

But he was one of the guys that contributed to Carr looking better at the end of last season. Maybe Carr needs a bigger target than we currently have.

 

[Elvis]

Dude played 343 snaps

read it again, 343 snaps, and had 12 catches.


He had PLENTY of chances. But he can't get open, can't produce, despite having seen 343 snaps.

Yet more efficient than Michael Thomas, Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau who all got more snaps and targets in 2023.

 

[rsmith2783]

Why are we acting like A.T. Wasn’t A DOG last Year? He was a bright spot in the preseason games this year.

Most of the time when a player is either cut or traded, you're going to have those that defend the decision that the team has made. If this board existed when Morten Anderson was cut, I would have loved to read the posts on those defending the Saints decision.

 

[St. Widge]

That can all be true. But we don't have any size at WR and great hands aren't something we have either. I mean, throw the guy on some go routes and let him be the guy that has a change to catch some of Carr's throw away balls when the pocket breaks down. Shaheed and Olave at 6 feet tall are hardly going to beat out DBs of the same size.


But he was one of the guys that contributed to Carr looking better at the end of last season. Maybe Carr needs a bigger target than we currently have.

I do think we need some more physical receivers, but I'm not sure that Perry was really that guy. I think he was just a tall finesse guy that was mostly a deep threat. And we already have that, minus the height, in Olave, Shaheed, and maybe Tipton.

It would have been nice to get Perry's height on the field, but if he can't learn the playbook or run the right routes, that's not going to happen. And those things are especially important in the red zone.

I think we are going to have to look in the draft or free agency in the coming year to add that threat whether it is a WR or a TE. It's also possible that Bub Means is ready next year but I would rather draft or sing another guy or two.

 

[St. Widge]

Most of the time when a player is either cut or traded, you're going to have those that defend the decision that the team has made. If this board existed when Morten Anderson was cut, I would have loved to read the posts on those defending the Saints decision.

Or, you know, maybe it's just that people have a different opinion than you. One shared by the rest of the NFL by the way.

 

[RJS]

That can all be true. But we don't have any size at WR and great hands aren't something we have either. I mean, throw the guy on some go routes and let him be the guy that has a change to catch some of Carr's throw away balls when the pocket breaks down. Shaheed and Olave at 6 feet tall are hardly going to beat out DBs of the same size.


But he was one of the guys that contributed to Carr looking better at the end of last season. Maybe Carr needs a bigger target than we currently have.

The team could absolutely use a bigger receiver but preferably one who can offer something in the run game. They need a Juaun Jennings type.

A.T. Perry is an interesting case. He's a guy who I would love to have on the field if the team was down two scores. He's also a guy whose lack of details helped put the team down two scores.

There's still plenty of time for him to figure it out and the Saints wanted to keep him.

 

[St. Widge]

Yet more efficient than Michael Thomas, Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau who all got more snaps and targets in 2023.

I mean MT was a shell of himself, Johnson was hurt most of the year, and Moreau was recovering from cancer. Plus Moreau and Johnson are TEs and Johnson and Moreau's years were big disappointments.

He was a solid prospect, but the guy played significant snaps in 8 or 9 games last year and only had 12 catches. 4 of those were TDs and that's what makes him stand out in people's minds. But sometimes those things are statistical anomalies and if a guy can't learn the playbook two years in a row, there may be issues. Still, it would have been nice to have him on the PS, but he refused the offer.

 

[DavidM]

As is typical around here, opinions have to run to the extremes, while also ignoring that multiple things can be true at once.

I like Perry’s potential and I was disappointed to see it didn’t work out for him with the Saints.

I can appreciate what he did on the field (both in the regular season last year and leading all receivers in the preseason this year) but also understand that he didn’t do enough for the coaches to value him ahead of other young WRs and/or he doesn’t fit a vision in the new system as well as others.

None of that means he’s a scrub, nor does liking his potential infer he’s Canton bound.

He’s a developmental player with a nice combination of size and some athleticism, who has a lot of room to improve. That’s about all that’s known at this point - passionate conclusions about a second year player, one way or another, notwithstanding.