Breshad Perriman, the polarizing Baltimore Ravens rookie wide receiver, is a defensive pass-interference flag waiting to happen. Perriman is a big-time size/speed prospect – but he needs some serious seasoning. The Ravens took the speedy wideout from the University of Central Florida as a logical replacement for deep-threat Torrey Smith who signed with the San Francisco 49ers in free agency. The hype train for Perriman was running full steam ahead in April. There were some who argued that Perriman was better than top WR prospect Kevin White. NFL films guru Greg Cosell compared Perriman’s size and movement skills to Dallas Cowboys superstar wide receiver Dez Bryant.

There are a number of positives and negatives to consider when looking at Perriman’s fantasy potential in 2015 and beyond.

Positives

– Speed/Acceleration/Quickness: Perriman is definitely a burner. He can take the top off the coverage. He’s also got incredible burst off the line and is able to accelerate quickly. His quickness allows him to change direction suddenly and he’s going to break some ankles at the NFL level.

– Body Control: He made some ridiculously acrobatic catches at UCF that brought back memories of Brian Quick’s crazy Appalachian State highlights. His ability to track the ball and get in the right position is obvious. He’ll use his size to bully smaller corners and box them out.

– Quarterback Play: Is Joe Flacco elite? (The question that keeps PFTCommenter up nights) Maybe not – but his arm strength definitely is. Flacco has always had an insane ability to drop it in the bucket and he made some incredible throws to Torrey Smith over the last couple of years. Perriman is lucky to be catching passes from a quarterback who loves to drop bombs, maintains poise and patience in the pocket to let vertical routes develop and has experience getting it out to another deep threat.

– Coaching: Perriman needs a lot of refinement in his game (we’ll talk about this in the negatives section). However, he’s got an outstanding coaching staff to help him smooth out those rough edges. The Ravens wide receiver coach Bobby Engram was a solid journeyman receiver with a ton of personal experience and can give a lot of practical knowledge to the young Raven. Offensive coordinator Mark Trestman has experience in molding a young receiver you might have heard of named Alshon Jeffery. Jeffery experienced a breakout in Trestman’s first year as head coach for the Chicago Bears. His system is conducive to a healthy passing game that should really benefit Perriman.

– Opportunity: (The BIG deal) Steve Smith had four really excellent games in the first half of the 2014 season but suffered a significant drop off in the second half of the year. The Ravens “senior”-citizen receiver is 36 years old this season and cannot be heavily relied upon. The Ravens wide receiver corps is devoid of any real star power outside of Smith. Marlon Brown saw some meaningful snaps in 2013 but sucks doesn’t look to be a central component in Marc Trestman’s offense. Perriman should easily be the at least the second-option as wideout for the Ravens and may quickly become Flacco’s favorite target.

Negatives

– Drops: Perriman had some seriously frustrating drops at UCF. He made some unbelievably difficult catches and then had some unacceptable drops on well thrown balls. The question remains: are they concentration drops? It seems that he has decent enough hands but might be more concerned with turning up field and running leading to lapses in attention to the ball. For the record, he has told RosterWatch personally that the “drops” issue (which the aforementioned Greg Cossell says is entirely overblown) was “all mental” and very fixable. So, Perriman could either go the Kelvin Benjamin-route of making some big plays despite a lot of college drops; or the unfortunate Justin Hunter-route of never seeming to get better at securing the ball and eventually being kicked off the team for felonious assault.

– Route running: Perriman is very raw in his route running. He tends to round off at the top of routes. If he could be crisper in his routes and utilize his short area quickness he will be dangerous.

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Rookie receivers used to be a bit of a gamble. To an extent, they still are. The wide receiver class of 2014 had astounding success with no less than 10 rookie receivers making significant impacts for their teams.

Success is predicated on natural ability, system fit, and quarterback play. Perriman seems to have a lot of good things going for him. The floor for Perriman, barring injury, has to be about 50 receptions, 600 yards, and a half dozen touchdowns. The ceiling is high and he could be a significant value in the double-digit rounds of 2015 redraft leagues where his ADP currently sits.

In traditional scoring leagues, Perriman has an average draft position (ADP) of 112. Based on Perriman’s natural physical talent and the amount of opportunities he’ll have, I see him as a very high-end WR3 option in 12-man, traditional scoring leagues. In PPR leagues his value is diminished somewhat because I don’t think he’ll get the volume of targets that a guy like Amari Cooper will. I would take him before DeVante Parker and Nelson Agholor in redraft leagues but not before Cooper or Kevin White.

I think Perriman could be a monster in MFL10 leagues, because he might be feast or famine as he adjusts to the Ravens systems. However, I have little doubt he makes some explosive plays with Joe Flacco slinging him the rock.