Rookie La'Mical Perine Showcased Potential for the New York Jets in Week 2
This week, the New York Jets might actually get a lift to a beleaguered offense. The return of La’Mical Perine to health is good news for an offense that has struggled so far this year.
Perine, a rookie out of Florida, will be counted on to continue helping a running back depth chart that is thin after veteran Frank Gore. He drew rave reviews in training camp from head coach Adam Gase, then suffered an ankle injury late in training camp.
He had three carries for 17 yards this past Sunday in the Jets 31-13 loss at the San Francisco 49ers. It was a positive showing in his NFL debut, not just that he is fully recovered from the injury but also a showcase of his potential.
“He had the one run and got to the edge. In the scrimmage here, the first one we had, he hit a long run,” offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said in his virtual press conference on Thursday.
“We feel really good about him, where he’s going, his development and we’re excited to get him out there and get him some carries. He’s earned that right. He’s a good football player and we’re excited.”
An ankle injury his senior year at Florida saw his draft stock drop. Had he stayed healthy, he could have well have gone in Day 2 of the NFL Draft.
He was a fourth round pick of the Jets, who also benefitted from Perine’s slower than expected 40 time at the NFL Combine with a 4.62. In training camp, however, Gase said that he’s showcased better than expected speed when he was billed ahead of the draft as a bit of a workhorse.
With Le’Veon Bell on Injured Reserve (IR) due to a hamstring injury, Gore and Perine project to get some significant carries this Sunday at the Indianapolis Colts. In the Jets Week 2 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Gore led the Jets with 63 rushing yards on 21 carries.
Gase is hoping to balance the carries moving forward so that Gore, in his sixteenth season in the NFL, does get overworked.
“We’re hoping to kind of really spread the workload out a little more to where we can make sure we do a good job of getting Frank through an entire game instead of kind of really burning him out in the first half,” Gase said on Thursday.
“So, I feel good about kind of the rotation that we’re talking about going through, and it’s just all about if we can keep everybody available for the whole game that’s really what we want.”
