So I recently rewatched the Senior Bowl, to see what players really jumped out.. On the first drive of the game, Lamical Perine catches a TD from Justin Herbert and it reminded me of a certain play from the past...
Flashback with me for a moment:
So I started to do a bit of digging on Lamical Perine, because he was never one to jump out at Florida. It didn’t take me long to realize, Perine is like a Pierre Thomas doppelgänger. Here are their athletic testing numbers (Illinois pro day/NFL Combine):
Rushing:
Pierre Thomas - 453 carries, 2,545 yards, 20 TDs
Lamical Perine - 493 carries, 2,485 yards, 22 TDs
Receiving:
Pierre Thomas - 57 catches, 411 yards, 3 TDs
Lamical Perine - 72 catches, 674 yards, 8 TDs
As you can see, Pierre was a more efficient rusher in college, while Perine was utilized much more in the passing game.
Like Pierre, Perine doesn’t have great speed. He doesn’t have open field elusiveness. What he does well is run patiently between the tackles, knows how to follow blocks, and he’s dynamic in the screen game. Because he doesn’t possess ridiculous traits he’ll likely be available Day 3, and I think the way this offense runs screens, Perine would be a winner late in the draft.