The New Orleans Saints had an overall successful 2023 NFL Draft, picking up a high value wide receiver in A.T. Perry out of Wake Forest at No. 195 in the sixth round of the event.
In fact, he’s pinned as the biggest steal of the draft for the Saints by Doug Farrar over at Touchdown Wire.
He noted how the fact his role in Wake Forest’s unique offense, dubbed “The Clawfense” by some, may have had a little something to do with that. Farrar wrote:
Wake Forest’s offense can be difficult to project to the NFL level, which I guess is why Perry was available for the Saints with the 195th overall pick in the sixth round… but then again, Perry caught 81 passes on 129 targets for 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns last season (his second straight 1,000-yard season), and he was pretty much the Demon Deacons’ entire passing game, so I’m not sure how much “projecting” we need to do here.
I would not have been at all surprised to hear his name in the back half of the second day, based on Perry’s size (6-foot-3, 198 pounds) and explosives play ability alone. Perry had 10 catches of 20 or more air yards for 373 yards and five touchdowns last season. Moreover, he can do things after the catch with an athletic ability to separate and get things done in space.
It will be interesting to watch how things play out as Perry prepares to compete for snaps among the likes of Tre’Quan Smith, Bryan Edwards and Shaquan Davis as he projects as a potential diamond in the rough backup to Michael Thomas.
Looking forward at the longer-term projection for Perry, he’s a player that should be expected to primarily be utilized as an X-receiver/split end. According to Pro Football Focus, Perry lined up in the slot on just 9.4% of his routes for the Demon Deacons.
