Career crossroads come pretty quickly in the NFL.
For Green Bay Packers linebacker Nick Perry, the reality of his current situation likely settled in around the time that the franchise announced they wouldn't be picking up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract.
It's probably pretty safe to say that Perry, Packers GM Ted Thompson's first-round pick, 28th-overall, in 2012, has failed to live up to expectations thus far in his professional career.
"It's particularly troubling for Green Bay (not to mention future suitors) that Perry hasn't maximized his opportunities across from a player of Clay Matthews' magnitude. He's a liability in pass coverage and probably more stiff in pass rushing opportunities than the Packers expected," writes Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports.
While early draft picks are almost always given the benefit of the doubt and therefore ample time to develop, it seems Perry's injury-prone nature and overall ineffectiveness could spell doom for his Packers career.
"Now he's in a position where his time on the field will depend on where Matthews is playing, which isn't ideal when you're trying to max out chances to turn everything around in a contract year," Robinson writes. "It says plenty that the Packers declined this fifth-year option. They weren't happy with 2011 first-round pick Derek Sherrod and didn't pick up his option, either. Now Sherrod is in Kansas City.
"Barring a sudden awakening, it's likely Perry will be elsewhere in 2016 as well."
In three NFL seasons, Perry has amassed just 69 tackles, nine sacks, four forced fumbles and three passes defensed, numbers that would amount to a pretty good year for the All World Matthews.
Of course, Perry has been consistently hampered by injuries since coming out of USC, having missed 10 regular season games his rookie year, five in 2014 and one last year.
As Robinson notes, the fact that Perry has both struggled to stay on the field and produce once he's there, despite playing alongside talents like Matthews, Julius Peppers and BJ Raji, has to be troublesome for Thompson.
Without some type of major career resurgence in 2015, his days as a member of the Packers franchise are likely numbered.
