After dealing with a hamstring injury throughout training camp, wide receiver Breshad Perriman was not a lock to make the Bucs’ final 53-man roster. Yet, when he stepped up and caught the go-ahead 28-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady in Sunday’s 20-10 win over the Saints, it wasn’t a big surprise.

Tampa Bay was missing star receivers Chris Godwin and Julio Jones to start the game, then Mike Evans got ejected for the part he played in a fourth-quarter scuffle. So, with the Bucs locked in a 3-3 game against the Saints, winners of seven straight regular season meetings between the two teams, it was Perriman who came through with the big play.

Of course, the former first-round pick out of UCF is no stranger to stepping in and stepping up when his number is called. He has done so for the Bucs in the past.

Bucs WR Breshad Perriman – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Down the stretch in 2019, Tampa Bay saw injuries to Evans, Godwin and Scotty Miller deplete its receiving corps. Perriman came through and delivered with three straight 100-yard games to close the season. Five of his six receiving touchdowns that season came in the team’s final four games – when he was needed most.

After spending 2020 with the Jets and parts of 2021 with the Lions and Bears, he returned to the Bucs last November. And in overtime of a tough Week 14 game against the Bills, Brady looked Perriman’s way and was rewarded when the speedy receiver caught the ball over the middle of the field and raced 58 yards for a game-winning touchdown.

Add Sunday’s fourth-quarter touchdown catch to the list of clutch moments for the 29-year-old. He finished the game with three catches for 45 yards and the touchdown, playing 50 snaps — the most of any Tampa Bay receiver.

“That’s why we kept him at the end of cut day,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said after Sunday’s game. “He can do everything and he comes up big at the right times. He can block for us. He can play special teams and he knows all of the receiving spots. And he’s got experience. So, he proved his worth today.”

Bucs May Need More From Perriman Going Forward

So now, after another big moment in Sunday’s win, Perriman could have his number called again in Week 3 when the Bucs host the Packers.

Bucs WR Breshad Perriman – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Evans received a one-game suspension following Sunday’s altercation, while the injuries to Godwin and Jones has their respective statuses up in the air. It’s situations like these when the Bucs need Perriman to step up into a larger role. And if history is any indication, he’ll be ready to do so.

“Well, he’s always prepared,” Bowles said Monday. “His readiness, his understanding of the game, doing the right things all the time, staying mentally sharp, doing all the little things… He’s a pro’s pro. He’s a guy’s guy, especially in the locker room. Understanding what he has to do to prepare so when the moment comes, it’s not too big for him. It’s routine for him and it’s a small thing that goes under the radar, but it’s a big thing for us.”

Evans praised Perriman’s work ethic after Sunday’s game, crediting his touchdown catch for the way the Bucs finished out the fourth quarter.

“That’s my guy, man. He works so hard,” Evans said. “Made a great play on the first touchdown, which really sparked everything after that.”

Familiarity With The Offense “Eliminates” Perriman’s Need To Think

Perriman’s career has had its highs and lows. After a three-year career at UCF, where he caught 115 passes for 2,243 yards and 16 touchdowns (including the famous “Hail Perriman” against ECU in 2014), he was drafted by the Ravens with the No. 26 pick in the 2015 Draft. Injuries plagued his time in Baltimore, then he spent one year in Cleveland before signing with Tampa Bay in 2019.

That late stretch of production made that 2019 season his best in the NFL. He caught 36 passes for 645 yards and six touchdowns in 14 games, parlaying that production into a one-year, $8 million deal with the Jets in 2020. But after bouncing from New York to Detroit and then from Detroit to Chicago in the span of a couple of years, Perriman found himself back in the Bruce Arians/Byron Leftwich system. And that’s a system he feels comfortable in.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and WR Breshad Perriman – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I talk to my teammates and my wife about this all the time, I’ve been bouncing around so much every year. For the past few years, it’s been a new offense [every year]. So, it feels really good to be back in a system that I’m familiar with and I’m used to,” Perriman told Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds during training camp. “It really eliminates my thinking out there. I can just go out there and play. Inside, outside, it don’t really matter because I’ve been in the system so long, I try to know all the positions so I can come out here and have that edge.”

Not to mention, Perriman has the added bonus of playing with Brady. And in just a handful of games, he has delivered twice for the greatest quarterback of all time. That’s a quick way to get on his good side.

“It’s huge. Really every person, every football player, but especially every receiver’s dream is to play with Tom Brady,” Perriman said. “Just to be able to say ‘Hey man, I played with that guy.’ He’s gonna go down as a legend in the game and just to have that under your belt, being in the same locker room with him, it’s pretty dope.”