The Bears on Monday officially announced the signing of veteran receiver Breshad Perriman and waived linebacker Josh Woods.
Perriman, who turns 28 on Friday, has appeared in 63 NFL games with 22 starts over five seasons with the Ravens (2016-17), Browns (2018), Buccaneers (2019) and Jets (2020). The 6-2, 215-pounder has caught 125 passes for 2,066 yards, a 16.5-yard average, and 14 touchdowns.
"Big-time speed," said general manager Ryan Pace. "We've talked about him, I feel like, every year. We've gone back and looked at our grades. We've got tons and tons of grades on him, from all of our coaches and all of our scouts. [Speed] has been the one trait. He's big. He's 6-2. He can still run and that's just continuing the speed and explosiveness in this offense."
Perriman was selected by the Ravens with the 26th pick in the first round of the 2015 draft out of Central Florida. His most productive NFL season came in 2019 with the Buccaneers when he established career highs in all receiving categories with 36 receptions for 645 yards and six touchdowns. Last year he started all 12 games he played with the Jets, hauling in 30 passes for 505 yards and three TDs.
"With Breshad, he has been with several different teams, and being a first-round draft pick, we've been looking at him for a couple years now, so we're pretty familiar with his path," said coach Matt Nagy. "I think the way you attack it is, No. 1, you always want to give these guys a fresh start, I think that's pretty self-explanatory. The other part is making sure he can grasp the terminology.
"But you've just got to stay positive with them and then you find out why. Like, why did things not go well here or there or why did things go well at these other spots because I know when he was in Tampa Bay, that second part of the season he was really, really good. So, I would love to talk to him and find out what was the why there and I'm sure he'll have some good answers. And that's our job to be able to try to use him and let him get up to speed because he's super talented."
Perriman's father, Brett, was an NFL receiver for 10 seasons with the Saints (1988-90), Lions (1991-96), Chiefs (1997) and Dolphins (1997).
Woods has appeared in 24 games, all as a reserve, the past two seasons with the Bears, registering 19 tackles. He originally joined the team in 2018 as an undrafted free agent from Maryland and spent his rookie year on the practice squad.
