Breshad Perriman, the Ravens' first-round pick a year ago, missed his entire rookie year due to a knee injury. Another knee injury -- this time a reported partially torn ACL suffered last week -- might prevent Perriman from suiting up in his sophomore season.
The key word: might. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, there's "absolutely a chance" that Perriman will play in 2016. His operation -- arthroscopic surgery -- on Tuesday will lend more insight into his recovery timeline.
There's "absolutely" a chance that Ravens' WR Breshad Perriman could return for 2016 season, per source. Surgery Tuesday should tell more.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 13, 2016
Partially torn ACL's never result in good news, but this report gives Perriman and the Ravens a chance to salvage the situation. As ESPN's Jamison Hensley wrote, "It's possible that Perriman may just need a stem cell injection, and the injury will heal on its own." The other option, according to ESPN, is reconstruction surgery, which would end his season.
The Ravens originally drafted Perriman to give Flacco a deep threat after letting Torrey Smith walk on over to the 49ers in free agency. Now, without Perriman, they'll be relying on a 37-year-old Steve Smith, who's coming off a torn Achilles, Kamar Aiken, and Mike Wallace, who's failed to latch onto two separate teams in the past two seasons.
That's not ideal, even if Aiken flashed promise after Smith went down last year.
If Perriman can play toward the end of the season, it'll give him valuable experience heading into 2017, when Smith might finally retire. But if that doesn't happen, at least the Ravens allegedly have the league's best tight ends.
The key word there: allegedly.
