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It’s been a rough year for Cleveland Browns rookie Perrion Winfrey and it was made even more difficult after a recent head injury that has kept him on the sideline.
While Winfrey has been on the injury report with a head injury that required stitches, not much was known about how he got it. Turns out it happened while he was riding on his scooter.
“I was driving around (on a scooter) and just ran into a pole,” Winfrey told Cleveland.com. “Nothing crazy. I looked back to try to see if my friend was still behind me, and when I looked back I ran into the pole. Just things I’ve got to get over as a rookie. Little things here and there.”
Winfrey has been in and out of the lineup during the tumultuous season and the Browns’ fourth-round pick has been a healthy scratch on a few occasions. He was active for the first time in a month against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
“It’s just like another thing that I’m going to be able to write in my book one day,” Winfrey said. “I’ve been gone for like a month, and the first game I get to come back is against arguably the greatest quarterback of all time and then I get the chance to possibly sack him if this is his last year ever. So I’m just blessed to be able to go out there and give it my all and I’m not going to say I’m going to do anything. I’m just going to make sure I do my job every single play, and the results will follow.”
Winfrey Changing His Perspective
After missing last week’s game, Winfrey got some attention for a very honest tweet calling this one of the worst year of his life.
“I can’t fake it this been one of the worst years of my life,” Winfrey tweeted. “I WONT stop tho.”
That’s tough, considering being drafted to an NFL team should be a massive highlight for anyone. And it wasn’t an easy journey for Winfrey.
Before landing with the Browns, Winfrey played two years at Iowa Western Community College and was rated as the No. 1 overall junior college recruit in the country after that stint. He landed with Oklahoma, where he became a key piece of the defensive line. He was named as a second-team All-Big 12 Conference selection last, posting 23 tackles, 11 for loss with 5.5 sacks in 12 starts.
There’s no doubt Winfrey has potential to be a contributor for the Browns but he needs to prove he can function as a pro, which Myles Garrett called him out for earlier this season.
“Honestly I just changed my perspective over this past month being able to reset and focus in on what I need to focus on,” Winfrey said. “I’m just grateful to be able to do what I love, so I started to take this job more seriously and (I’m) leaving everything else that didn’t have to do with this alone.”
Myles Garrett Says Winfrey Has Ways to Go
Winfrey’s discipline earlier this season stemmed from him being late to practice. That triggered Garrett to say something, although he feels the rookie has taken some strides since.
“I definitely feel like he still has a ways to go as far as this season and playing up to the standards that he has set,” Garrett said. “But I mean, maturity, he’s taking steps forward and coming along and I know that energy that he has is infectious and we love the way he talks and the confidence that he brings to the room. But we also need him to bring that in the performances as well. He hasn’t played as much as he would or probably I would want him to because he’s had things happening here and there.”
The Browns defense has been extremely inconsistent this season so if Winfrey can find a way to contribute in t he second half, it’ll be a welcomed site.
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