Draft Fumble
The most interesting comment I've seen said about Ole Miss edge defender Suntarine Perkins came from Ran Carthon. Maybe this shouldn't be a surprise since Carthon used to be an NFL GM. He was fired a year ago after 2 years running the Titans.
Carthon was a 2004 UDFA running back with the Colts. He didn't have much of an NFL career with only 22 career rushing yards. Towards the end of his career, he had a try-out with the Atlanta Falcons. Les Snead was a scout for the Falcons at the time. Carthon knew his brief NFL career was nearing its end and told Snead that he was interested in getting into scouting. A year later, Snead hired Carthon to be a scout. Their relationship led to Carthon becoming the Director of Player Personnel for the Rams from 2012 to 2016.
I don't think Carthon did anything egregious that merited him being fired by the Titans, but the team had a lousy record during his tenure. That's how it goes sometimes. The NFL is a tough business and when a team loses, someone has to take the fall, regardless of whether they deserve all the blame.
In an interview with Ryan Wilson from CBSSports, Carthon said that Suntarine Perkins reminds him of one of his former teammates with the Colts, Robert Mathis. Carthon joined the Colts just as Mathis was about to break out in his 2nd NFL season. Aaron Donald is one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history. So is Myles Garrett. AD has 24 career forced fumbles. Garrett has 23. The two of them have 47 combined forced fumbles. Mathis has an NFL record 52 career forced fumbles, more than AD and Garrett combined. In 6th place on the all-time list is Mathis's teammate, the great Dwight Freeney, with 47.
Mathis was a very undersized DE at 6'2'' tall and 235 pounds. He played at a small school, Alabama A&M. The area scout for the Colts became enamored with Mathis by watching a VHS highlight tape. Things have really changed since those days. The scout gave Mathis a 3rd round draft grade and despite Mathis's small size, was able to sell the idea of drafting him to Tony Dungy. Mathis spent his entire 13-year NFL career with the Colts, becoming one of the best pass rushers in the league and an All-Pro player. In the early years, he wasn't even a starter, he was used as a pass rush specialist coming off the bench.
The Colts considered drafting Mathis in both the 3rd and 4th rounds in 2003 but passed on him each time. In the 5th round, the Houston Texans decided they didn't like anyone, so shopped their pick to the Colts, asking for a 4th rounder in the 2004 draft. That's how Indy got Mathis, who would go on to torment the division rival Texans for many years, piling up a bunch of sacks against them. With the 4th round pick in 2004, the Texans drafted a safety who started for them in 2006. In a preseason game the following year, that safety suffered what proved to be a career ending foot injury. This seemingly trivial swap of middle round picks became a critical addition for the Colts, including helping them win their elusive Super Bowl with Peyton Manning.
Suntarine Perkins is one of the most explosive athletes in the 2027 draft class. He was one of the top recruits in the country coming out of HS. At the time, he was projected to be a future 1st round NFL draft pick and was supposed to become the next Devin Lloyd, Darius Leonard or CJ Mosley. Instead, Ole Miss has used him as a hybrid player, lining up primarily as an EDGE defender but frequently dropping back into pass coverage. Moreover, Perkins is built like a safety. His listed size is almost the same as that of Bray Hubbard, the "average size" safety that I just wrote about in the last profile. Consequently, it is very unclear what position Perkins should play at the NFL level. As Mike Renner wrote, Perkins is "one of the weirdest evaluations I can remember".
Is Perkins a future pass rushing monster for the Rams? Could he someday be the best pass coverage LB in the NFL? It might sound crazy, but there's even a potential argument for trying to move him to WR instead of using him on defense. Perkins is like the defensive version of Alejandro Villanueva, who played at Army. Villanueva played about 4 different positions in college, including as a ridiculously tall WR. After initially failing to catch on in the NFL as a TE, he got another chance as a DE. A 3rd team liked his athleticism and decided to move him to LT, where he established himself as an NFL starter.
Vinnie Iyer thinks that Perkins has the potential to be a high 1st round pick. If you're optimistic about Perkins, maybe he could be the next Abdul Carter, Dallas Turner or Nolan Smith. Not surprisingly, I found Perkins to be one of the most challenging prospects in the draft to grade. Just randomly pick a number or throw a dart at the board. So much of his future is pure conjecture and speculative projection. Like a HS recruit, he's an "athlete" without a true position. Where should you draft a prospect like that?
The most interesting comment I've seen said about Ole Miss edge defender Suntarine Perkins came from Ran Carthon. Maybe this shouldn't be a surprise since Carthon used to be an NFL GM. He was fired a year ago after 2 years running the Titans.
Carthon was a 2004 UDFA running back with the Colts. He didn't have much of an NFL career with only 22 career rushing yards. Towards the end of his career, he had a try-out with the Atlanta Falcons. Les Snead was a scout for the Falcons at the time. Carthon knew his brief NFL career was nearing its end and told Snead that he was interested in getting into scouting. A year later, Snead hired Carthon to be a scout. Their relationship led to Carthon becoming the Director of Player Personnel for the Rams from 2012 to 2016.
I don't think Carthon did anything egregious that merited him being fired by the Titans, but the team had a lousy record during his tenure. That's how it goes sometimes. The NFL is a tough business and when a team loses, someone has to take the fall, regardless of whether they deserve all the blame.
In an interview with Ryan Wilson from CBSSports, Carthon said that Suntarine Perkins reminds him of one of his former teammates with the Colts, Robert Mathis. Carthon joined the Colts just as Mathis was about to break out in his 2nd NFL season. Aaron Donald is one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history. So is Myles Garrett. AD has 24 career forced fumbles. Garrett has 23. The two of them have 47 combined forced fumbles. Mathis has an NFL record 52 career forced fumbles, more than AD and Garrett combined. In 6th place on the all-time list is Mathis's teammate, the great Dwight Freeney, with 47.
Mathis was a very undersized DE at 6'2'' tall and 235 pounds. He played at a small school, Alabama A&M. The area scout for the Colts became enamored with Mathis by watching a VHS highlight tape. Things have really changed since those days. The scout gave Mathis a 3rd round draft grade and despite Mathis's small size, was able to sell the idea of drafting him to Tony Dungy. Mathis spent his entire 13-year NFL career with the Colts, becoming one of the best pass rushers in the league and an All-Pro player. In the early years, he wasn't even a starter, he was used as a pass rush specialist coming off the bench.
The Colts considered drafting Mathis in both the 3rd and 4th rounds in 2003 but passed on him each time. In the 5th round, the Houston Texans decided they didn't like anyone, so shopped their pick to the Colts, asking for a 4th rounder in the 2004 draft. That's how Indy got Mathis, who would go on to torment the division rival Texans for many years, piling up a bunch of sacks against them. With the 4th round pick in 2004, the Texans drafted a safety who started for them in 2006. In a preseason game the following year, that safety suffered what proved to be a career ending foot injury. This seemingly trivial swap of middle round picks became a critical addition for the Colts, including helping them win their elusive Super Bowl with Peyton Manning.
Suntarine Perkins is one of the most explosive athletes in the 2027 draft class. He was one of the top recruits in the country coming out of HS. At the time, he was projected to be a future 1st round NFL draft pick and was supposed to become the next Devin Lloyd, Darius Leonard or CJ Mosley. Instead, Ole Miss has used him as a hybrid player, lining up primarily as an EDGE defender but frequently dropping back into pass coverage. Moreover, Perkins is built like a safety. His listed size is almost the same as that of Bray Hubbard, the "average size" safety that I just wrote about in the last profile. Consequently, it is very unclear what position Perkins should play at the NFL level. As Mike Renner wrote, Perkins is "one of the weirdest evaluations I can remember".
Is Perkins a future pass rushing monster for the Rams? Could he someday be the best pass coverage LB in the NFL? It might sound crazy, but there's even a potential argument for trying to move him to WR instead of using him on defense. Perkins is like the defensive version of Alejandro Villanueva, who played at Army. Villanueva played about 4 different positions in college, including as a ridiculously tall WR. After initially failing to catch on in the NFL as a TE, he got another chance as a DE. A 3rd team liked his athleticism and decided to move him to LT, where he established himself as an NFL starter.
Vinnie Iyer thinks that Perkins has the potential to be a high 1st round pick. If you're optimistic about Perkins, maybe he could be the next Abdul Carter, Dallas Turner or Nolan Smith. Not surprisingly, I found Perkins to be one of the most challenging prospects in the draft to grade. Just randomly pick a number or throw a dart at the board. So much of his future is pure conjecture and speculative projection. Like a HS recruit, he's an "athlete" without a true position. Where should you draft a prospect like that?