While Nick Perry could be the best edge rusher set to hit the open market Thursday, the Packers would like to keep him from leaving Geen Bay, according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on Twitter). They’re going to face competition, though, including from the Falcons, per Ledbetter.
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Atlanta’s at least the third non-Packers team involved in the Perry sweepstakes, joining the Colts and Jets. As such, Perry should be in line for a better deal than the one-year, $5MM pact he inked with the Packers last March. Perry was then a player who had largely disappointed during his first few NFL seasons, leading Green Bay to decline the 2012 first-round pick’s fifth-year option for 2016.
In his latest action, Perry broke out as a 26-year-old and picked up career highs in starts (12), sacks (11) and tackles (52). Perry entered the year with only 16 starts and 12.5 sacks across 46 appearances.
For the Falcons, adding the 2016 version of Perry (if his most recent output doesn’t prove to be a fluke) would provide a complement to Vic Beasley and be a boon to a defense that ranked a middling 16th in the league in sacks last season. Further, although the Falcons advanced to the Super Bowl, they finished toward the bottom of the league in total defense (26th), defensive DVOA (27th) and points allowed (27th).
Is it even remotely possible that the packers defense could get worse?
YES YES YES YES YES
Perry and Poe.. that’d be nice for the dirty birds
we need to keep perry!!