Denzel Perryman Rapidly Increasing His Draft Stock

Denzel Perryman is a personal favorite of mine in this class, so it's refreshing to hear that he's making an impression on scouts at Senior Bowl workouts. The Miami star has to battle the stigma of not being a prototypical inside linebacker due to his 5'11", 244-pound frame. 

However, it's hard to overlook the simple fact that Perryman is an outstanding football player. You can look at all the measurements you want, but at some point the simple question has to be, can the guy play in the NFL?

Chris Burke of Sports Illustrated offered some insights into what Perryman was doing during the practice sessions in Mobile, with a little help from scouts in attendance:

His coverage can be a little spotty -- the Jaguars' coaches, in charge of the South team this week, chatted him up after a couple of plays where he was late getting to his man. 

But there were no such concerns against the run. Midway through the South practice, the crowd in attendance let out a collective cheer, leading to this exchange between two scouts in front of me:

"What happened? I missed it."

"Perryman blew somebody up. Probably happens a lot."

An easy trope that even the most advanced scouts fall into is simply comparing two players who have the same body type, whether their actual talents match up or not. In Perryman's case, though, it's not out of line to say that he can be this year's version of Chris Borland. 

The 49ers got Borland in the third round last year, primarily because teams were concerned about how he would perform in the NFL at 5'11" and 247 pounds. He proceeded to record 107 total tackles despite not starting until after Patrick Willis got hurt in Week 6. 

Perryman has a nose for the football and more strength than you realize, like Borland, and he should benefit because of the success San Francisco's latest star linebacker had in 2014. He may not be a first-round pick, but a team should jump at the opportunity to grab him early in Day 2. 




(bleacherreport.com)