Broncos' WR A.T. Perry 'Might' Miss a Week of Training Camp, per Payton

Only three players were absent from the Denver Broncos' mandatory minicamp this week, and head coach Sean Payton wasn't concerned about any of them, including second-year wideout Devaughn Vele. Wide receiver A.T. Perry and running back Blake Watson were the other two players absent from the Broncos' mandatory minicamp.

As the Broncos concluded their last practice of the minicamp — with the next stop being training camp in late July — Payton once again fielded a question on the subject of Vele's absence, which is a bit higher profile because he was a starter last year, and he's been one of the standouts of OTAs.

“No. He’s going to be full-go [at the] start of training camp," Payton said of Vele on Thursday. "Everything is good."

Payton also revealed that in Perry's case, he's dealing with something that could keep him out of the first week of training camp.

"There may be one player, Perry, that might go a week into training camp and then be ready, depending on how the summer goes," Payton said. "Outside of that, we expect everyone back.”

Payton's revelation that "everyone" will be back for training camp, minus Perry, initially, is good news for Broncos fans still agonizing a bit over the Dre Greenlaw injury. The Broncos place a special premium on player wellness and strength and conditioning, spending five weeks during Phase 1 of the offseason training program lifting weights and strength training before ever stepping onto the practice field.

Circling back to Perry, despite having never taken a snap in Orange and Blue, he has a surprising number of supporters in Broncos Country. I know because I hear from them quite often during my live-streams of the Mile High Huddle Podcast.

Perry was a 2023 sixth-round pick of the New Orleans Saints. He only last one season in New Orleans, but it was an intriguing debut, catching 12 passes for 246 yards, four of which were touchdowns.

You read that right; 33% of Perry's receptions as a rookie were touchdowns. Throw in his yards-per-catch metric of 20.5 and the fact that he's 6-foot-5, and it's easy to see why Payton was more than a little curious.

Broncos senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael, who was the Saints' former long-time offensive coordinator, had some experience with Perry, along with Denver's vice president of player personnel Cody Rager.

“We had some exposure with him. I obviously wasn’t there, but Pete Carmichael [was]," Payton said back in October of 2024. "We noticed him in his rookie year last year on film. Cody [Rager] was there. They were all part of that process. We weren’t going to claim him, but we sure would like to recruit him to come to the practice squad. He’s long with good hands... Again, [he’s] a young player we want to develop.”

The Saints waiving Perry came as "kind of a shock" to him, considering that it came in October of his second year. But 2024 was a tumultuous season for the Saints organization, and Payton was looking to possibly benefit from it, signing Perry to the Broncos' practice squad four days after he was waived.

“I like bigger receivers,” Payton said on Wednesday.

The two most prolific receivers during Payton's tenure as Saints head coach were both bigger-bodied guys: Marques Colston and Michael Thomas. In Denver, Payton inherited the 6-foot-4 Courtland Sutton, and immediately put his frame and length to good use, as the veteran wideout posted a career-high 10 touchdowns in 2023.

Payton also drafted the 6-foot-5 Vele, as well as the 6-foot-3 Troy Franklin and the 6-foot-2 Pat Bryant. Perry brings some length and big-play ability to the table, but he's facing a very deep and conjested wide receiver depth chart.

To make any headway, Perry will need to become available as soon as possible once training camp rolls around. A four-year player at Wake Forest, he produced back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons to close out his collegiate career.

Perry ran a 4.47-second 40-yard dash at the 2023 NFL Combine, which is good for his height. So why was he a late-round pick? NFL.com's Lance Zierlein categorized Perry as a higher-ceiling, lower-floor prospect with a frustrating penchant for drops ahead of the 2023 NFL draft.

"Long wideout with quick feet and erratic hands who falls neatly into the category of higher-ceiling, lower-floor prospect. Perry has been highly targeted and highly productive over the last two seasons. He’s crafty but physical in the early stages of the route and flashes the ability to become a more dangerous route runner with additional work," Zierlein wrote. "He has the tools to work all three levels of the field, but his drops and ordinary ball skills sap some of the excitement surrounding his massive wingspan. Perry’s inconsistencies can be frustrating, but his talent and traits make him worthy of a Day 2 selection as a potential WR2/3."

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Perry ended up falling to Day 3. Time will tell whether things will click for him in Denver. He'll need the stars to align to crack the depth chart, though, as everyone ahead of him, outside of Sutton, was hand-picked in the draft by Payton.