Breshad Perriman could not find a spot on the Ravens’ 53-man roster, but his former coach is rooting for him.
With the 24-year-old wide receiver reportedly set to work out for the New York Jets on Monday, and visits with the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills also possible, Perriman could get a new lease on his NFL career after three underwhelming years in Baltimore.
Count John Harbaugh among the former first-round pick’s well-wishers. The 24-year-old led the Ravens in the preseason in receptions (11) and receiving yards (136) and had one touchdown catch before getting cut Saturday.
“To me, that’s the thing that I think he’s excited about, and I’m excited about for him,” Harbaugh said Monday afternoon. “You get a chance to kind of get a fresh start and a healthy start. He obviously had his best camp because he was in camp and he played well. Very productive in games and in practice. I’m hopeful for him. I want to see him do well. You become friends with these guys. I want to see them be successful.”
Carl Davis has no uncertainty about his future after the Cleveland Browns swooped in to sign the 26-year-old defensive tackle Sunday. Davis, a third-round pick in 2015 who missed all of 2016 because of an ankle injury and was slowed by a hamstring injury in 2017, could not crack the Ravens’ deep defensive front, but he should get a chance to face them Oct. 7 and Dec. 30.
“I’m not thrilled that he’s in Cleveland, and we have to play against him twice a year,” Harbaugh said. “But kudos to Cleveland. They’ve taken a number of our ‘D’ linemen. It seems like every year, they grab one of our ‘D’ linemen, and they’ve all done well for them. So I give them a lot of credit for what they’re looking at. We were blessed with some depth there, and Carl was in the last year of his contract. All those things kind of factor in. But it certainly wasn’t for the way he played. He played well.”
Harbaugh acknowledged that one of the tougher decisions was releasing inside linebacker Albert McClellan, who could play linebacker positions and was a key cog on special teams. But the 32-year-old McClellan missed the entire 2017 season after tearing his right ACL, and on cut-down day gave way to undrafted rookie Chris Board, who is 23.