With the May 5 deadline approaching, the Baltimore Ravens aren’t expected to exercise the fifth-year 2019 option on wide receiver Breshad Perriman.
The bigger decision with the disappointing 2015 first-round pick comes this summer.
Perriman is due a $649,485 bonus on the third day of Baltimore’s training camp, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. The Ravens could try to trade Perriman or ultimately release him, given his struggles and the team’s free-agent additions.
Baltimore is playing in the Hall of Fame game this season, so the third day of camp will be in the middle of July (likely July 21).
"He knows it's his opportunity to make or break being a part of the Ravens,” general manager Ozzie Newsome said in early March.
Perriman, the No. 26 overall pick three years ago, ranks among the biggest first-round busts in franchise history. In 27 games, Perriman has managed 43 catches for 576 yards and three touchdowns.
Perriman's career has been derailed by injuries and inconsistency. He missed the entire 2015 season with a partially torn PCL in his right knee, and he was sidelined for all of training camp last year with a partially torn ACL in his left knee.
This past year, Perriman was sidelined for all of the preseason with a hamstring injury before missing one game with a concussion. His troubles catching the ball and aggressively competing for the ball dropped him behind Chris Moore as the team's No. 3 wide receiver and led to him being inactive for four of the final seven games last season.
Perriman received the worst grade among 116 receivers from Pro Football Focus last season. His dropped passes became such a problem that he was sarcastically booed by fans after making two catches in the last home game he played.
“It was tough,” Perriman said a day after the season ended. “I’ve never been through any challenges like this, football-wise. This was probably my toughest year.”
The Ravens presumably won’t pick up Perriman’s fifth-year option of $9.387 million, which would become guaranteed in 2019 if he gets injured. Even if Perriman had been productive, that option would have been a risk with his injury history.
Baltimore has previously used the fifth-year options twice, on cornerback Jimmy Smith and linebacker C.J. Mosley. The team declined the option on safety Matt Elam.
With the bonus, Perriman is due to make $1.622 million this season, which is the 14th-highest base salary on the team. Baltimore can create $1.6 million in cap space by cutting him after June 1.
The Ravens' focus this offseason has been to upgrade the wide receiver position. Baltimore signed Michael Crabtree and John Brown in free agency, and the Ravens are set to add Willie Snead as a restricted free agent.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh expressed optimism that Perriman could turn his career around.
"I’m confident he can do it. I’m hopeful he can do it; I want him to do it,” Harbaugh said at the end of the season. "I’ll do everything I can; we’ll do everything we can, as a coaching staff, to make him the best he can be, because we need him to be great. But if it doesn’t work out, then it’s going to be somebody else. That goes for any player.”