Now it’s time for Nick Perry to figure it out.
The 28th overall pick in the 2012 draft has been a huge disappointment so far. He has missed 16 games in three years, but the outside linebacker has only tallied nine sacks and 60 tackles in his Packers’ career.
And that’s why Perry’s fifth-year $7.751 million option was not picked up by Green Bay.
The Packers just don’t know what they have.
They’ve been patient with him when he got nicked up and didn’t play. They even tried him out at the elephant defensive end position, which amounted to a fart in the wind.
Perry came in with a lot of promise. He was supposed to the other bookend for Clay Matthews. It also helped that both Perry and Matthews played ball at Southern Cal. But, obviously their career arcs went in two completely different directions.
The Packers were left with no choice. If they picked up Perry’s option, they were likely limiting their future ability to sign their 2016 free agents. Guys like Mike Neal and Mason Crosby might have been at risk if Perry’s option was picked up.
Now that’s not to say the Packers still can’t bring Perry back.
But what it is saying is the Packers want to see something. This is the Packers’ way of saying, “The ball’s in your court big boy. Give us all you’ve got.”
Perry can be disappointed. But he better not stray too far from his mirror when he decides to play the blame game. His lateral speed has always been an issue, which compounds his other glaring mistake of being out of position.
There’s still plenty of time for Perry to carve out a solid career. Heck, he’s only 25. But his attitude must change and he has to come to minicamp and training camp playing like he’s auditioning for a job.
Because in reality he is.
——————Cory Jennerjohn is from Wisconsin and has been in sports media for over 10 years. To contact Cory e-mail him at jeobs -at- yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter: Cory Jennerjohn
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You did Taryn. I don’t like it. But you called this years ago. You were right.
Thanks for the acknowledgement but I certainly would have preferred to be wrong for the Packers sake.Who knows….he still has this camp and season to do more.
I’m kind of hoping that his no. 1 motivaton will be because Jayrone Elliott makes even more noise in his 2nd season.
I think the Packers feel pretty good at OLB with Elliott, Neal, and Mulumba not to mention whoever they draft or pick up this season. Perry is officially expendable at this point. They don’t need him as much as he needs them. Hopefully he’ll wake up or his mother will slap him around like that kid in Baltimore yesterday. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
Ted
“I think the Packers feel pretty good at OLB with Elliott, Neal, and Mulumba not to mention whoever they draft or pick up this season”
Lorenzo Mauldin, please.
What? Elliott, Neal and Mulumba aren’t enough?
And Adrian Hubbard… Why overlooking him?
Packers are pretty loaded at OLB with CM3, Peppers, and Mike Neal all deserving snaps….. it’s light years better than the days of Zombo and Walden getting blown off the line or losing containment of the corner! Perry has to earn his playing time and I’d say he got about the amount of snaps he deserved last year. Guy looks absolutely great some times and like a bone-head other times. He still has a lot of value, just not 7 million a year value……. yet. I think he puts it together to at least become a good starter deserving of a mid-level contract.
“Nick Perry, in my book, has done absolutely zero.”
-2014 Nick Perry’s Coach- Winston Moss
I’m not sure what Winston Moss has ever done. He was not CM3’s coach when the light came on, that was Kevin Greene. He did coach Desmond Bishop, so maybe there is some evidence in his favor, or maybe he held Bishop out of the line up long after fans were screaming for Bishop to start.
Can not call him a bust until this season is over..he did start to play a little better last season but if he wants to stay with the Pack he better do more than just improve he better be outstanding!
That is why this year might be his last year with Packers… Show something … or … goodbye!
I remember being called out for naming Nick “The Fairy” Perry. He plays like a fairy and he is no bookend to Clay. He may be able to hold his jock between plays and that’s about it. “Fairy” will never be anything but a pussy willow in the wind. Less than a JAG. It’s like watching someone piss up a rope…
WOW!….You make me appear to have nothing but total adoration for Perry.
I just believe he is a total bust and it is time to cut ties with him. Make room for someone that wants to play the game and not just go through the motions. “Fairy” is not even a good actor.
Come on Big T. You are comparing Nick Perry to Michael Sams? That’s not fair. Perry’s been hurt but when he’s on his game he’s a tough SOB. I can still hear the pop he put on Andrew Luck. That guy is still there. He just needs to put it all together this season. Motivation is a good thing sometimes. He’s far from a “fairy”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Ted
No one blocked Perry on that play. Anybody in the NFL should put a pop when unobstructed to the QB. What has Perry done when he has blocker in front of him?
No one blocked him because they were afraid of him from what I remember.
Ted
They didn’t block him because the DB that lined up next to perry at the line drew the attention of the TE and RT. Both blockers let Perry slide by them. Watch the video on YouTube
At this Perry is just a body and certainly not worthy of the option price. Old Julius Peppers at his mid 30’s started ahead of him.
Generally I prefer not to give up on a player but the Packers are correct in not picking up the option on Perry. He is basically on a show me contract now. He will face a lot of competition in camp with draft picks, UFDAs, Elliott and Malumba, Joe Thomas and others all taking their shots to make the squad. At this point the only linebackers that I have confidence in are CM3, Barrington, Peppers and Neal. After them it’s all question marks. Thanks, Since ’61
I agree that GB made the right choice in declining to exercise the 5th year option for Perry. But the decision was not a no- brainer. I disagree with every comment made so far. I am also disappointed that the author made no attempt to explain how the 5th yr option works, and disagree with most of his comments.
When did Neal get to be a better OLB than Perry? I like Neal a lot and had hoped that when he got down to 263 lbs he might take off. He didn’t, but he still might. Perry sets a much better edge and had about the same number of tackles per snap as Neal. There is the bugaboo for me: snap count/injury. Neal played 642 snaps to Perry’s 360 snaps. Perry had 4.5 sacks to Neal’s 5.0 in many more snaps.
The 5th year option is guaranteed only for injury, essentially only for a severe or career-ending injury. GB could have picked up the option and retained the option to cut Perry at the end of the season (or wait until the beginning of the league year – March of 2016) to make a decision on Perry, during which time it could extend Perry, or release him with no cap hit and owing no money to him. Andrew Brandt, GB’s Vice President and chief contract negotiator from 1999 to 2008, a guy who knows a little about cap management, wrote that in his opinion teams should lean towards exercising the option for the reasons stated in the article linked below. IMO, Perry is too injury prone to take ANY risk, since he can be resigned. BTW, Peppers is likely to retire after this season, Neal and Perry are FAs, so I don’t think OLB has a lot of depth after 2015. Yes, I like Jayrone Elliott.
http://mmqb.si.com/2014/05/02/nfl-2011-draft-fifth-year-option/
A stray thought occurred to me (yes, that is potentially a straight line for someone). In the unlikely event that Shane Ray, Bud Dupree, or Randy Gregory drops to #30, and in the unlikely? event that TT’s picks same, I wonder which current OLBer won’t make the club, especially if the rookie wows the coaches during TC and preseason games. Hmmm, cutting Neal saves $3 mill in cap, and $1.48 mill for Perry.