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

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

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.

I agree, he played more like Robert Meachem than Michael Thomas. Someone who would have been a good compliment on the outside as a vertical threat, but not smeone you'd be throwing slants to or having him run dig routes etc. His route tree seamed a bit limited, so he effectively was beat out by guys who practiced better. Now granted he was the best 50/50 guy on the roster by far, but gotta do more than catch 50/50 balls to be a contributor.

It's the same reason Hunter Renfrow hasn't been signed by anyone. He does one thing good, that one thing isn't enough for a roster spot.

I do think he's a better fit for Paytons system though, and hopefully he produces there.

 

[St. Widge]

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 here.

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.

If I gave the impression that I think Perry is terrible or trash, or that I didn't want him on the team, that was not my intent.

My point was that he is a developmental prospect that I would have liked to have kept, but I don't really see it as a huge loss. I don't see him becoming a great player, but I do think he could end up being a solid #4/#3 guy if he can learn the playbook and if he can learn to run better routes. At the same point, I realize that there are multiple injuries on the OL so we needed roster spots to add players. That meant someone had to be cut as as the #6 WR that made Perry the obvious choice.

It was an unfortunate result of a numbers game. They tried to get him on the PS, but he understandably choose to go to a team with Pete Carmichael who seems to have valued his skills more than Kubiak does. Or maybe he just felt he was a better fit for that offense and wanted a fresh start. It's entirely understandable to me that he might want a fresh start after struggling with the playbook, being 6th on the depth chart, and then getting cut.

Maybe it will turn out to be a mistake to let him go due to the injury crisis, but I'm not sure who else would have been a better option to be cut especially with May and Werner out for the last game.

 

[St. Widge]

That's all fair. I've heard the playbook thing before but not from any kind of official source. AT was a 6th round rookie on a busted offense that seemed to be pulling things together at the end of the season in 2023. Him being cut isn't anything to riot over, but it seems like a lost opportunity to coach up a guy with good hands and size that is rare. That he only has 6 less TDs in 10 games and 18 targets than Olave has in 36 games and 285 targets just makes me scratch my head why we'd give up on him instead of someone like Rico Payton who was a UDFA at a position of depth. And we're talking about trading for a WR? It's just odd to me.

Payton was an option to cut, but honestly I think it's harder to find a good man CB than it is to find a tall WR. Colleges churn out big and tall WRs every year now and guys that are tall and run good deep routes are pretty common these days. It's why a guy like Perry falls to the 6th round. And many of those guys are ready to go day one in limited roles if nothing else. IMO, it's much harder to find a good cover CB and I think Payton is already good and could become a very good player but got passed over because of where he played. I would have been much more unhappy about losing Payton than Perry. But, I could be wrong.

I also think it's possible that next year Payton is your #3 CB behind Taylor and Kook-Aid. Or your #4 CB if Lattimore stays. I don't see Adebo coming back since he is likely going to get an offer that is bigger than we are willing to pay when we have good depth at CB.

As you know, I'm not a fan of trading for a WR right now, but I don't think that Perry really does the things that Adams does.

 

[Elvis]

Payton was an option to cut, but honestly I think it's harder to find a good man CB than it is to find a tall WR. Colleges churn out big and tall WRs every year now and guys that are tall and run good deep routes are pretty common these days. It's why a guy like Perry falls to the 6th round. And many of those guys are ready to go day one in limited roles if nothing else. IMO, it's much harder to find a good cover CB and I think Payton is already good and could become a very good player but got passed over because of where he played. I would have been much more unhappy about losing Payton than Perry. But, I could be wrong.

As you know, I'm not a fan of trading for a WR right now, but I don't think that Perry really does the things that Adams does.

I just watched a highlight video of AT from last year. The thing he did best was contested catches on simple routes. I honestly think that is something we could use right now. We have guys that can get separation and catch open balls, but I'm not seeing many completions of contested balls. Maybe it doesn't fit the scheme but he led the league in preseason yards? Still a bit of a head scratcher for me.

 

[meily]

I just watched a highlight video of AT from last year. The thing he did best was contested catches on simple routes. I honestly think that is something we could use right now. We have guys that can get separation and catch open balls, but I'm not seeing many completions of contested balls. Maybe it doesn't fit the scheme but he led the league in preseason yards? Still a bit of a head scratcher for me.

Do you know how hard it is to catch a pass that is 'contested" that is not a skillset, no more than catching an open pass is a skillset.

You do not have much of an offense if your dependent upon jump balls to move the ball, I'll take the guy who can get separation over the guy who cant but he may be able to wrestle away the ball from a defender to make a "contested" catch.

AT may just not fit what we do on offense, Tipton is a better route runner at this point, Bub Means can be to this offense what Perry would of been to a PC lead offense and that's why he is in Denver.

 

[St. Widge]

I just watched a highlight video of AT from last year. The thing he did best was contested catches on simple routes. I honestly think that is something we could use right now. We have guys that can get separation and catch open balls, but I'm not seeing many completions of contested balls. Maybe it doesn't fit the scheme but he led the league in preseason yards? Still a bit of a head scratcher for me.

I'm just not sure that matters much unless or until we get the OL fixed and the running game back on track. When we had that working well, we were not missing those contested catches. If you can get separation like Olave and Shaheed, you don't need to make a contested catch. Anyway, I do think we need to add a physical receiver soon, I just don't think Perry is that guy. He's okay at contested catches, mostly due to height, but he's not what we really need. I agree with Elias that he's really more of a deep threat guy and not a guy you want running slants and come backs.

Also, I think this scheme is designed to get guys into space with separation so they can get YAC so you aren't going to get as many contested catches. Still, it's something that you would like to have as an option, especially in the red zone, but I think that will have to wait until the draft or free agency. That is unless they trade for Adams. While I don't want to give up the picks or the cap space to get Adams, he does do those things.

 

[DavidM]

If I gave the impression that I think Perry is terrible or trash, or that I didn't want him on the team, that was not my intent.

No, I think our opinions about his situation with the Saints are pretty closely aligned, but I wasn’t speaking about simple differences of opinion, anyway.

 

[Elvis]

Do you know how hard it is to catch a pass that is 'contested" that is not a skillset, no more than catching an open pass is a skillset.

You do not have much of an offense if your dependent upon jump balls to move the ball, I'll take the guy who can get separation over the guy who cant but he may be able to wrestle away the ball from a defender to make a "contested" catch.

AT may just not fit what we do on offense, Tipton is a better route runner at this point, Bub Means can be to this offense what Perry would of been to a PC lead offense and that's why he is in Denver.

Sigh. Nobody is suggesting building an offense based on contested catches, but it would be really nice if we had someone, anyone, that could do it in a game where the coverage has us figured out and we have to throw something up. That's what we want Juwan to be and he isn't.

Anyway, I'm not going to die on any hill for AT Perry. It seems to early too cut him when I think we could have cut a guy at various other positions instead of him to fit in an OL. Including one on the practice squad that could elevate for the game day roster.

 

[sfidc3]

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.

I realize that, but the catches he did have were impactful, I mean you can’t ignore that he had 4 TD’s (or maybe you can?)….plus he was a rookie….

And maybe that’s the end of his NFL career, and maybe he thrives in a different environment, hard to know….but I feel cutting him was a mistake, we will see….

 

[St. Widge]

I just watched a highlight video of AT from last year. The thing he did best was contested catches on simple routes. I honestly think that is something we could use right now. We have guys that can get separation and catch open balls, but I'm not seeing many completions of contested balls. Maybe it doesn't fit the scheme but he led the league in preseason yards? Still a bit of a head scratcher for me.

So I had a chance to look at those highlights and I'm obviously not even an amateur scout so take this for what it's worth, but what I see is a tall guy that doesn't run particularly good routes, but is good at finding spaces in zones and at making catches on back shoulder throws. He has solid hands and makes catches look easy. He's not beating anyone man to man and appears to not get separation unless it's finding a soft spot in a zone. And I'm not really seeing the athletic skills that you normally see in guys who run good to great routes. He has some speed, but he's a glider and isn't sudden in his cuts.

A lot of the "contested" catchers are good back shoulder throws by Carr. I don't see a lot of physicality just a guy who is tall and can jump who also locates the ball well when it is thrown to his back shoulder. The one play that really stands out to me is the TD catch against the Rams. That too is a nice back shoulder throw by Carr to throw him open but he does a good job fighting for the ball. A lot of what I see is Carr being very hot at this point in the season and understanding where he needs to throw the ball for Perry.

So, what I see is a #4 WR who is going to be good at finding soft spots in zones during 2 minute drills and who is good on deep back shoulder throws. I'm not really seeing a #1, #2, or #3 WR there, but he is certainly a guy you would like to have on your team who can make plays in 2 minute drills and on occasional deep balls.

He is a guy you would like to have for depth but if he can't learn the playbook and doesn't play special teams, it makes it hard to carry him on the 53.

But again, take this with a grain of salt, I could be way off.

Edit: I will say that with all the zone that K.C. played on Monday night, it would have been interesting to see if Perry could have found some of the soft spots in those zones. Although I'm not sure Carr would have had time to find him.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Sigh. Nobody is suggesting building an offense based on contested catches, but it would be really nice if we had someone, anyone, that could do it in a game where the coverage has us figured out and we have to throw something up. That's what we want Juwan to be and he isn't.

Anyway, I'm not going to die on any hill for AT Perry. It seems to early too cut him when I think we could have cut a guy at various other positions instead of him to fit in an OL. Including one on the practice squad that could elevate for the game day roster.

Ironically, per PFF behind AT Perry was Johnson w/ contested catches. I expected the offense to have some packages w/ him as an outside WR playing something of a Big X role but I haven't seen it, and yet I can understand why the Saints have been throwing the ball down field to Shaheed in those situations because he had the 3rd best contested catch rate last year.

Meanwhile Olave, because his % wasn't good 2 years in a row has suddenly seen less targets in those scenarios.

 

[Quiet Storm]

I just watched a highlight video of AT from last year. The thing he did best was contested catches on simple routes. I honestly think that is something we could use right now. We have guys that can get separation and catch open balls, but I'm not seeing many completions of contested balls. Maybe it doesn't fit the scheme but he led the league in preseason yards? Still a bit of a head scratcher for me.

I'll tell you this..AT Perry makes that catch Tipton couldn't.

 

[St. Widge]

Ironically, per PFF behind AT Perry was Johnson w/ contested catches. I expected the offense to have some packages w/ him as an outside WR playing something of a Big X role but I haven't seen it, and yet I can understand why the Saints have been throwing the ball down field to Shaheed in those situations because he had the 3rd best contested catch rate last year.

Meanwhile Olave, because his % wasn't good 2 years in a row has suddenly seen less targets in those scenarios.

What would you think about playing Olave more in the slot if we can get a true X at some point?

 

[WhoDat?DrewDat]

I'll tell you this..AT Perry makes that catch Tipton couldn't.

oh stop it

 

[St. Widge]

I'll tell you this..AT Perry makes that catch Tipton couldn't.

I've yet to see Perry make that kind of catch.