Rookie linebacker Nick Perry is making the difficult transition from defensive end
GREEN BAY- The first thing you notice about rookie Nick Perry is his size. He looks the way a 3-4 outside linebacker is supposed to look. Here are some other things I noticed about the 22-year-old player the Green Bay Packers are counting on to help lead a defensive resurgence this season:
Perry ran a 4.56 in April, and more importantly, he plays to that time. In fact, the former USC star probably covers more ground than any linebacker on the roster – including perennial Pro Bowler Clay Matthews. He chased down backs on a couple of occasions at last night’s practice. Perry also looks pretty solid at the point of attack. He has obvious take-on strength and the strong hands needed to control/disengage. Teams aren’t going to find it nearly as easy to run at the linebacker opposite CMIII this season.
Not surprisingly, the former college defensive end needs to improve in coverage. Besides lacking experience in this part of the game, he’s also a bit stiff in the hips. This will cause him problems against quick backs and tight ends – especially early in his career while he’s still adjusting to the position.
As a pass rusher, Perry also needs some work. Bryan Bulaga handled him with relative ease all night. Part of that is because Bulaga is one of the best right tackles in the league, but part of that is because Perry isn’t really an explosive, quick-twitch athlete. If he’s going to beat good tackles on a consistent basis, he’s going to have to get off the ball quicker and develop secondary moves to go along with his outstanding speed. There’s no question he has the potential to be an effective pass rusher, but he’s not there yet.
It’s very difficult to judge a football player in such a short period of time, but from what I saw of Perry last night, I can’t say I was overly excited or overly disappointed. Upon first glance, he looked better than former first-round draft picks Aaron Rodgers, A.J. Hawk, Justin Harrell and Derek Sherrod. He didn’t look as good as Matthews, B.J. Raji and Bulaga. But it doesn’t really matter what he looks like on the second day of August. It only matters what he looks like in the second week of September. And beyond.
You could write this exact same story in Bears camp with Shea McClellin, Eagles camp with Vinnie Curry, or any camp where you have a young defensive end, defensive tackle or OLB. The ability is there, but they can’t just go and react. Processing the playbook is a killer for all these guys.
Unless you’re a rare Von Miller, it’s unlikely these guys can play full speed until mid-season when the finally ‘get’ the playbook and just play instinctively.
Yeah well Von Miller was a 2nd overall pick for a reason. Your right though, im not sure what kind of role the other guys you mentioned will have this season but I will bet none of them are being counted on to be a full time starter at this point.
Perry is not only trying to process an entire playbook as a starter but hes also got to deal with a position change and playing on the opposite side of the field where he only played sparingly in college. A lot of people think 3-4 OLB is just a stand up DE but thats just not the case. A DE probably has 1 or 2 things to identify before and after the snap, an OLB has to indentify the pre-snap formation, adjust to any motion and figure out if he has to hold the point, fill a gap, cover a zone/man or rush the passer.
Thats a whole lot to put on a rookies plate and from what I’ve seen and read of him he seems to be handling it just fine. Once his head stops swimming im sure he will be able to play a lot faster and start to show off his ability on the field. Having him face Bulaga on a daily basis will only help him in the long run.
Perry isn’t an explosive player? Where do you get that from? Matthews had a 1.49 10 split in his 40 at the combine. Perry reportedly had a 1.54 and Vonn Miller had a 1.57. Miller had a 37 in vertical, Perry had a 38. I don’t know where you got that Perry isn’t explosive. As of now, due to the change of position and standing up, he’s probably not quite playing to that explosiveness, but he definitely IS an explosive player! He is very much in the learning phase and will be for a couple years, but he is explosive and plenty enough to be an explosive pass rusher. That was one thing that seperated Perry from the other DE/OLB types in this draft. More explosive than all of them. When he gets the intricasies of playing OLB down he will be near the level of Matthews and right in step w/ Miller.
Now if you asked me who I would rather have Miller or Perry playing opposite Matthews I would go w/ Miller, cuz he played OLB in college and is more equipped to play in space. In the long run Miller will likely be a better OLB than Perry, but I doubt he reaches Matthews level. We’ll see… But make no mistake, Perry is an explosive pass rusher!
How did I get that Perry’s not explosive? From watching him live last week. I like to judge players by what I see, and not by combine numbers and by what other people say. By the way, I don’t think Perry will ever come close to Matthews and Miller as a player, but we shall see.
Well like I said, Perry isn’t playing to that ability as of now due to the change of position and having to learn to play standing up. If you like to watch like a scout go check out his college game tape and highlites and then tell me he isn’t explosive. Kinda like Newhouse looked slow at times, even tho he has very good feet for a LT, Perry will start playing to that ability once he is accostomed to playing OLB. An athlete can’t play to his ability if he is thinking his way around a football field. He has to know exactly what he is going to do and react, not think! When Perry gets more accustomed to playing standing up, he will play to his explosiveness.
I watched a handful of USC games, and to be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed by Perry. He was one of those guys who looked better than he actually played. That said, I had no problem with Ted taking him at 28 because of the team’s dire need for a pass rusher, but I can’t say I’m overly confident that Perry will ever be a Pro Bowl caliber outside linebacker in the NFL.
I don’t think he’ll be a Pro Bowl OLB either. He really doesn’t have to be. If he is a good pass rusher and takes pressure off Matthews a little he’ll be a good pick. He and Worthy should both be able to provide some pass rush and make life easier for Matthews.
BTW I don’t think Perry will ever play OLB to the level of Matthews or Miller either. He doesnt have the years of experience playing OLB and standing up like Matthews and Miller and he doesn’t have the natural athleticism of them either. But there is reason to believe that Perry will be a good OLB and maybe a very good one. He could become similar to Terrell Suggs, if not nearly as good. Both were DE in college and Suggs doesn’t have the athleticism to play in space either, but he is a terrific pass rusher. If the Packers get a Suggs-lite they will have done very well, and thats not to say that Perry will be as good as Suggs in any way, but they are similar players coming out of college. The Packers need to do what they can to limit Perry in coverage and in space for now and let him grow into a pass rusher. That is what they drafted him for and what he does very well.
Terrell Suggs has one of the best first steps in the game of football, he seems to use speed quickness and power equally. Perry lacks the agility of a Matthews or Miller, he may use a combinatiom of power and speed for explosion but lacks the agility, flexibilty and balance that the others possess. Best measurement of those skills is the 3 cone drill at the combine and thats where Perry didn’t quite do so well.
If your looking for a comparison to a current NFL player think Lamar Woodley of the Steelers not Matthews Miller or Suggs.
Suggs plays more like a DE than he does as an OLB. He rarely is put in position to have to drop in coverage (maybe less than 10%) and plays w/ his hand on the ground on alot of pass downs. I know Suggs just won a DPOY award and all, but if the Packers use Perry in the same way as Balt uses Suggs, he could be nearly as good. Woodley also had the advantage of playing as a stand up player sometimes at Mich. But he would be somewhat similar also… Woodley drops in coverage alot more than Suggs does. Packers, at least for now, need to try to keep Perry out of coverage responsibility and in pass rush situation to get the most out of him.
Perry probably knew something when he announced before the draft that he didn’t want to play OLB and would rather be a 4-3 DE. It’s going to take a long period of adjustment for him to learn to play the position. Here’s hoping Greene can coach him up quick and Capers figures out how to use him best in the meantime.
How many games into Matthews first season did he start? I think it was week six or eight!