As Terrell Suggs strolled onto the field for Tuesday's practice, he spotted No. 18, Breshad Perriman.
"Who's the new guy? Can he play?" Suggs joked.
By now, every Ravens fan knows Perriman's plight.
He missed his entire rookie season due to partially-torn PCL in his right knee that was re-aggravated and slow healing. Not long after getting back on the field this summer, he injured his left knee in mid-June. Perriman luckily avoided surgery, but he has missed the past two months.
Perriman is back on the field, and on Tuesday he got through his first full-team "training camp" practice without an injury. Now it's time to show what the 2015 first-round pick can do.
"[I'm] very eager," Perriman said. "It's coming real soon. I know it will be worth the wait."
On Monday, Perriman only participated in the slower paced afternoon AACT practice, which stands for alignment, assignment, corrections, technique. On Tuesday, he was promoted to the full-team practice, which included going through some routes and catching passes from quarterback Joe Flacco.
Perriman said he's running at full speed. In fact, the man who blazed the 40-yard dash in 4.24 seconds at his pro day says he feels even faster than before now that he's cut off his long dreads.
"I feel real good; I'm confident," Perriman said. "I feel like my speed is there still, so I can't complain at all. … I feel much lighter. Once I cut it, I weighed myself and lost like three or four pounds. It was crazy."
The Ravens are still easing Perriman back into action, but he's making steady progress. Head Coach John Harbaugh even left open the possibility of Perriman suiting up in Saturday's third preseason game.
While Baltimore would like to get Perriman as many game reps as possible considering how much he's missed, the most important target is Sept. 11 against the Buffalo Bills. Perriman has about three weeks to get ready, and he said he "most definitely" will be.
"I don't have any doubt in my mind that I won't be ready," he said. "I'm attacking it right now like I will be ready, and I think I will."
The original projection on Perriman's return from his left knee injury was mid-August. He only missed that by about a week.
After having so much trouble last year getting over an injury that typically isn't season ending, it's a good sign for Perriman's durability in the rough-and-tumble NFL.
"I've been through it before, so I knew how to kind of attack it and I had a better attitude toward the whole rehab process," Perriman said. "I feel like I attacked it much harder."
Perriman said he doesn't feel any mental hurdle coming back from the injury.
"I feel like I have been working hard in rehab, I feel like I'm healthy," Perriman said. "So I'm not really trying to baby [my knee] or anything like that. I'm just trying to go out there and play fast and really not think about it at all."
More than a mental hurdle, Perriman needs to get on the same page with Flacco. The quarterback had limited time throwing to Perriman during Organized Team Activities and minicamp last offseason, but that was more than a year ago.
Even Perriman conceded that they "probably have some work to do."
"I haven't been out there with Joe in a minute," he said. "It shouldn't take that long, but I feel like we'll get it done."
Once Perriman is fully up to speed, the Ravens will have an embarrassment of riches at the wide receiver position. Steve Smith Sr. (Achilles) is back in full-team drills and Michael Campanaro (strains) and rookie Chris Moore (foot) have also both returned.
They all join Kamar Aiken, Mike Wallace and Jeremy Butler, who have been standout performers throughout training camp and the preseason.
"I feel like it is going to be a good year," Perriman said. "Just being around those guys, they keep you uplifted."
