The rookie first-round pick has been placed on season-ending injured reserve.
The Ravens were hoping the speedy wide receiver would be able to get on the field for at least the final four games, just to see what he would offer, but Perriman has not made enough progress with his injured knee.
“Breshad has worked hard to come back from his injury, but, after discussing his current condition with our medical staff and Breshad, we have decided that putting him on injured reserve for the remainder of the season is our best course of action,” General Manager Ozzie Newsome said.
Last week, Head Coach John Harbaugh said “the clock is ticking” on Perriman to make a return before the Ravens would pull the plug and use his roster spot on somebody else.
Harbaugh said he wasn’t too involved in the decision to send Perriman to IR, and it was more between Newsome, Perriman and his doctors.
“We were very hopeful that we could get him out there,” Harbaugh said. “We were waiting as long as we could to see if that could happen, and it just didn’t look like it could happen.”
Perriman sprained his PCL on the first day of training camp. He returned to practice eight weeks later, on Sept. 24, but did not run full speed.
Before the Ravens’ Week 3 game against the Bengals, Perriman pulled up in pain while trying to reach a pass during pre-game warmups. After that, the Ravens sent him to Dr. James Andrews for another look at the knee and Andrews performed a minor scope procedure.
Andrews confirmed that there was no new damage, but it meant Perriman needed additional time to heal from the procedure, as well as the original injury. He hadn't practiced since.
As Harbaugh said about a month ago, “it’s probably one of the all-time slowest healing sprained PCLs ever.”
On Wednesday, Harbaugh was asked whether there are concerns about Perriman having a “degenerative issue” or further complications with his knee.
“Not that I’ve been told,” Harbaugh said. “To me, it’s still a hard one to understand. [There are] better people to ask than me about that. I’m just disappointed.”
Harbaugh said he talked to Perriman about the issue for the first time at length yesterday.
“You couldn’t talk to him,” Harbaugh said. “You’ve seen him around. He was just so down about the whole thing. He seemed a little more at peace with his future, and he was excited about the progress he’s making.”
It's a huge disappointment not being able to play my first year in the NFL, but I will come back harder than ever. pic.twitter.com/uN00HZYEFE
— Breshad Perriman (@B_Perriman11) November 17, 2015
Perriman’s lost rookie season leaves questions around what he’ll be able to provide moving forward. The Ravens will be evaluating the wide receiver position once again this offseason considering Perriman’s injury and
Perriman did show flashes of his potential during the summer during Organized Team Activities and minicamp. The Central Florida product made big plays in practice with his sub-4.4 speed and big size.
