For Rams QB Bryce Perkins, it’s finally game time
The dual-threat quarterback is among the young players eager for a chance to play in the Rams’ preseason opener against the Chargers on Saturday night.
www.dailybulletin.com
For Rams QB Bryce Perkins, it’s finally game time
THOUSAND OAKS — At the Rams’ minicamp and training camp this summer, Bryce Perkins and Duck Hodges spent a lot of time standing and watching Matthew Stafford get the ex-Lion’s share of practice reps and John Wolford take most of the rest.But the two quarterbacks competing for a spot on the Rams’ roster knew they’d get their turn.
“We’re like, our time to shine is August 14th,” Perkins said.
Their time has arrived.
Perkins, who spent last season on the practice squad, and Hodges, the former Pittsburgh Steelers backup signed as a free agent in January, will take turns running the offense Saturday night when the Rams open the preseason against the Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
Coach Sean McVay plans to hold 35 regulars out of the game and a similar number out of the next two exhibitions to protect against injuries, and Wolford wouldn’t have played anyway after having his appendix removed Aug. 6.
For someone like Perkins, 24, this is the long-overdue chance to suit up for an NFL game after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the cancellation of the 2020 preseason.
“It’s going to be exciting. I know energy is going to be up. I’m going to be locked in and prepared,” Perkins said Friday of the game that will mark the first time fans watch the Rams or Chargers play a game at SoFi Stadium.
If Perkins’ patience has been tested, it’s not the first time.
The Arizona state high school championship-winning quarterback – younger brother of former UCLA running back Paul Perkins – had his college career interrupted when he fractured two vertebrae in his neck in an Arizona State practice in 2016. Surgery would have meant no more football. Instead, he recovered by spending four months in a neck brace.
Having fallen behind other ASU quarterbacks, Perkins decided to leave and spend the 2017 season at Arizona Western community college in Yuma, Ariz., demonstrating his health and ability for any major program that was watching.
Virginia was watching. Perkins passing and running led the Cavaliers to an 8-5 record and their first bowl victory in 13 seasons in 2018, and a 9-4 season and the ACC championship game in 2019. As a senior, he finished sixth in the nation in total yards with 4,299 (3,530 passing, 769 rushing) and fourth in pass completions (319), although he also threw the ninth-most interceptions (12).
Rams coach Sean McVay remembers seeing Perkins drive the Cavaliers to a touchdown pass that briefly tied the ACC championship game – before Trevor Lawrence and Clemson overwhelmed them.
But the Rams had already been aware of Perkins, since General Manager Les Snead’s son Logan was a walk-on linebacker at Virginia.
After Perkins was passed over in the 2020 draft, the Rams signed him as a free agent.
He has size (6-foot-3, 214 pounds), foot speed and a passing arm that the team thinks has improved in his year on the practice squad.
“When things break down off-schedule, (a blocker) gets beat, with that athleticism he can kind of find a way of, when it’s wrong, making it right,” McVay said.
“That’s what he did in his career at Virginia. He’s done that at practices for us over the last year. And now you guys will get a chance to see it too.”
A year without a game might have been a lucky break, because Perkins thinks he’ll look better Saturday than he would have if he’d been on the field in 2020.
“Last year, I remember hearing some of the play calls, and I’m like, ‘There’s no way I’ll ever be able to get these play calls down,’” he said. “But now I feel really comfortable about getting the play call, getting it out and then going up there and executing.
“I always take every opportunity to learn. My big thing is growth. I’d rather go out there when I feel ready mentally than rushing out there just because I want to be out there. I love coming out here, and taking different things from different guys, and learning to be a pro’s pro.”
Those guys include Stafford, the quarterback acquired from the Detroit Lions in a swap for Jared Goff in January.
“He’s great to work with,” Perkins said of the Rams’ new star. “He shows that he cares. The young guys, he doesn’t let us go out there and make mistakes without learning from it.”
Perkins’ first NFL game will be an exhibition and will find him working with a backup offensive line, receivers who won’t include Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, DeSean Jackson or Tyler Higbee, and a backfield that won’t include Darrell Henderson.
But at least it’s a game, Perkins’ first since a 36-28 loss to Kyle Trask and Florida in the Dec. 30, 2019 Orange Bowl.
“Being a football player and not playing football (for) a whole year,” he said, “kind of gets me anxious to get out there.”
