The New Orleans Saints have been hitting a little more often on their draft picks as of late, with players like Bryan Bresee, Taliese Fuaga, Chris Olave, and even a resurging Trevor Penning all helping them to a 2-0 start.
But one of their most-hyped picks in the later rounds was in 2023, when they took A.T. Perry out of Wake Forest. He was a highly gifted athlete who produced at the college level and seemed very talented, so why did he fall? Perry himself cited that he was told teams were scared off by unspecified character issues, which he said was due to him being a quieter person.
The concern now lies in his utilization through the first few weeks of the season, including preseason. He was marginally used in most of the preseason games but many believed that was because he had locked in a higher-up spot on the depth chart. That may have been the wrong read on the situation. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill tracked all 267 passes Derek Carr threw during team drills at training camp and Perry only caught one of them.
Then he suffered a hand injury, missing Thursday and Friday practices before Week 1’s kickoff game, and was questionable to play before being ruled out. This is pretty normal and nothing really looked awry. Then he returned to practice before Week 2, fully practicing the whole week and entering game-day without a designation.
However, he ended up being a healthy scratch in Week 2, despite the team generally being somewhat short at the wide receiver position. They ran Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Cedrick Wilson Jr., Bub Means, and Mason Tipton in his stead the first two weeks.
Could this have been purely precautionary as it was a hand injury, and avoiding further complications is for the best? Possibly. But this week against the Philadelphia Eagles will be very telling, as Wilson is coming off an abdomen injury and was limited all week despite having no designation.
Perry was limited Thursday with an illness but returned fully on Friday, and is again questionable to play. If he misses a third game to start the season, it will be a somewhat odd occurrence for sure. He seemed to play well in his time last year, totaling 12 receptions for 246 yards (20.5 average) and 4 touchdowns, but who knows what is going on behind the scenes. Hopefully Perry can work his way back into the rotation. If not, Tipton, Means, and Wilson will need to step up in his stead.