The Jets got younger and faster at receiver despite losing Robby Anderson this offseason.
Soon after Anderson signed with the Carolina Panthers, Joe Douglas grabbed former first-round pick Breshad Perriman in free agency and took Baylor receiver Denzel Mims 59th overall in the draft. Both players boast fantastic quickness and agility and should easily replace Anderson’s skillset and production.
Perriman is almost a carbon-copy version of Anderson, but faster. He’s roughly the same size at 6-foot-2, 209 pounds, six months younger and ran a faster 40-yard in college than Anderson (4.19 in 2015 vs. Anderson’s 4.34 in 2016). While those numbers may be a bit outdated, Perriman’s speed showed up on the field more frequently than Anderson’s in 2019. According to NFL NextGen Stats, Perriman reached a top speed of 20.66 miles per hour on a 34-yard touchdown catch in Week 15, while Anderson only hit 20.3 miles per hour on his 93-yard touchdown against the Cowboys in Week 5. We’re splitting hairs with that 0.36 difference, but sometimes that’s all it takes to get enough separation to catch the ball. The advanced metrics also favor Perriman’s speed over Anderson’s. Perriman earned a 125.7 speed score, according to PlayerProfiler.com, while Anderson only earned a 103.2 score.
If Perriman more than accounts for the loss of Anderson in the speed department, than Mims is an added bonus. The Baylor wideout ran a 4.38 40-yard dash at the NFL combine this spring – tied for fifth among all participants – and led receivers with a 6.66 three-cone drill. Mims is nimble for his frame, which is similarly built to Perriman and Anderson at 6-foot-3 and 207 pounds. Mim’s posted a lower PlayerProfiler speed score than Perriman at 115.6, but graded out much better in explosive speed with a 131 burst score.
The Jets also kept two speedy reserve players at wide receiver in Vyncint Smith and Braxton Berrios. Smith actually reached 22.01 miles per hour on a 19-yard rushing touchdown in Week 5, while Berrios ran 20.95 miles per hour on his 69-yard catch in Week 12. Neither will be mainstays on offense but give Sam Darnold another element of quickness at the position when needed.
The one thing the Jets can’t replicate is Anderson’s chemistry with Darnold, though. The two worked well together in Darnold’s first 26 games as a Jet, and it’s hard to gauge how Perriman and Mims will play with Darnold if training camp doesn’t begin as scheduled.
At the very least, Douglas managed to give Darnold two faster players to work with for the young quarterback’s third NFL season. Both are very much wildcards given Perriman’s small sample size in 2019 – he only caught 35 passes – and Mim’s inexperience as a rookie, but the speed on paper should be enough to elevate the offense.