Jets Counting On Perriman To Replace The Production Of Robby Anderson

Well, that didn’t take long. 

Approximately 3-plus hours after the news broke Tuesday that wide receiver Robby Anderson had left the New York Jets for the Carolina Panthers, the news broke that the Jets had agreed on a one-year deal with former Tampa Bay wideout Breshad Perriman. 

The contract is worth $6 million in guaranteed money, according to Perriman’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus. 

Both players are speedsters, and Perriman will be asked to fill the role of downfield threat that Anderson had done for the Jets. Anderson, who signed a two-year, $20 million deal with the Panthers, according to multiple reports, had 52 receptions for a 15.0-yard average and five touchdowns in 2019. In four seasons with New York since being signed as an undrafted free agent from Temple, Anderson averaged 51.8 catches, with a high of 63 in 2017 before Sam Darnold arrived. 

Perriman’s overall NFL career has been less successful than Anderson’s thus far. Baltimore selected the former Central Florida star in the first round of the 2015 draft, but Perriman never saw the field that year because of injuries. He finally played for the Ravens in 2016 and averaged 15.1 yards on 33 catches with three TDs. But he had only 10 catches in 11 games in 2017 and was waived by Baltimore before the 2018 season. 

He was picked up by Washington, then quickly waived again and signed by Cleveland. For the Browns, he averged 21.3 yards on 16 receptions but Cleveland chose not to resign him. Perriman hooked on with Tampa Bay on a one-year contract for $4 million, and finished the 2019 season with career-highs in receptions (36), yards (645) and touchdowns (six). 

Perriman was most productive down the stretch, compiling 27 receptions and five touchdowns in the final five games after injuries had ravaged the Buccaneers’ receiving corps. That is the type of production the Jets are counting on. 

Anderson had two run-ins with the police earlier in his career with the Jets, but avoided any further trouble since then. In 2019 especially, Anderson built a very good rapport with Darnold, which points out the riskiest thing with this move. 

The third-year quarterback will have to try to get on the same page with Perriman, and as I noted here about the offensive line, it’s unclear how much time on the practice field Darnold and Perriman will get to establish that chemistry. 

The fact that the Jets did not pivot to Perriman until after Anderson had signed with the Panthers demonstrates that general manager Joe Douglas hadn’t closed the door totally on Anderson. But unlike edge rusher Jordan Jenkins, whom the Jets re-signed the day before to a one-year contract, Anderson apparently had not reduced his asking price to something palatable to Douglas. 

 In his first free-agency go-round as a GM, Douglas seems to have established the mindset that he has a price point in mind for free agents, whether his own team’s or someone else’s, and he will not go beyond that. Thus, it seems logical to infer that he will stick to value much the same way in next month’s NFL Draft, and not reach for player if he feels that player is not worth being selected at that juncture. This bears watching once the draft gets underway on April 23, and it will be interesting to see if Douglas trades down from No. 11 overall because of this philosophy.