The Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced on Tuesday that they have signed quarterback Bryce Perkins, who was added to their negotiation list a couple of months ago. Perkins was named the UFL MVP this past spring and helped lead the Michigan Panthers to the UFL Championship.
2025
Perkins dressed in 7 regular season games in the UFL for the Panthers this spring with 6 starts, missing some time due to injury. He completed 109 of his 158 passes (69%) for 1,342 yards and 9 touchdowns with 2 interceptions. In the playoffs, he completed 41 of his 60 passes for 576 yards and 4 touchdowns with 1 interception while playing through an ankle injury.
Perkins is additionally a player with exceptional balance and running ability. He rushed 59 times for 311 yards and 6 rushing touchdowns over the regular season and 2 playoff games. For how I tracked missed tackles forced across the previous UFL season, he had more than anyone in the league, with 35 across his rushes and making people miss in the backfield when pressured.
He was signed by the Carolina Panthers late in the NFL preseason and played in 1 game, which saw him complete nearly all of his passes. He completed 10 of his 11 passes for 71 yards and rushed twice for 28 yards. He was released in the final roster cuts.
Here's a shot of a Bryce Perkins 35-yard touchdown pass to Cole Hikutini from last week. Perkins has been unfair lately. A few plays last week felt like Michael Vick in Madden 04.
The Michigan Panthers’ offensive coordinator was none other than Marcel Bellefeuille, who was the head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 2008-2011 and has nearly 3 decades of Canadian football coaching under his belt. Bellefeuille has also been the coach of the Ottawa Gee-Gees since 2020. Perkins has spoken in the past on how the Bellefeuille’s CFL background shaped Michigan’s offense.
“I mean, it comes from the CFL, man. In the CFL, if you’re not throwing for 5,000, you’re wrong. So he’s had a dollar down, even a lot just come in here. If he could, he would pass the ball 80% of the time. But we have such a great run-blocking O-line, man, and backs. It’s hard to really stop that. And with the rules in the NFL, you get three yards for the lineman downfield. So the RPOs become very viable.”
2024 Michigan Panthers
In 2024, Perkins played in 5 games for the Michigan Panthers without a start. He made some really great plays, but unfortunately, his season was shortened by injury. He completed 30 of his 38 passes in 2024 for 343 yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception and rushed 20 times for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Despite his limited playing time in 2024, the quality of play was so promising that he seemed like a likely candidate to win the MVP award the following season if given the playing time.
LA Rams
Perkins played for the LA Rams after being undrafted in the 2020 NFL draft. He played in 5 games with 1 start for the Rams in 2022, completing 19 of his 34 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown with 2 interceptions and adding a 19-yard rush. Over 6 appearances in NFL preseason games, he completed 91 of his 140 passes (65%) for 921 yards and 5 touchdowns with 1 interception and added 215 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 42 rushes.
Virginia
Bryce played his final 2 seasons of college ball for Virginia in 2018 and 2019, where he started in 27 games. He completed 546 of his 846 passes (64.5%) for 6,258 yards and 47 touchdowns with 21 interceptions. He also rushed 439 times for 1,692 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Perkins overcame great adversity early in his career. Prior to playing at Virginia, he redshirted at Arizona State in 2015. Then he missed the 2016 season due to a broken neck.
After the road to recovery from a broken neck, Perkins played juco ball in 2017 at Arizona Western JC where he completed 114 of his 180 passes for 1,311 yards and 7 touchdowns with 8 interceptions. He also rushed 69 times for 353 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Closing
Bryce has football talent in his blood. His father, Bruce Perkins, was a fullback at Arizona State and spent some time with the Buccaneers, Colts, and Browns in the NFL before going to the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Memphis Mad Dogs. His great uncle, Don Perkins, spent 8 seasons as a running back with the Dallas Cowboys. Bryce’s older brother, Paul Perkins, was also an NFL running back who had stints with the Giants, Lions, Jaguars, Ravens, and Colts.
Perkins’ level of play in the UFL was so strong that, to me, he stands out as a player who should be starting in the NFL. He is a player who can win multiple MVPs in the CFL. With Perkins joining young stars like Nathan Rourke and Davis Alexander, we’re possibly in store for a really exciting CFL future.
Jonathan ClinkReporter
Jonathan Clink joined CFL News Hub in early April of 2023. His primary responsibilities are covering the BC Lions and Montreal Alouettes.
He self awarded himself the CFL Rookie Journalist of the Year in 2023 following the 2023 CFL season. He also proclaims himself to be a "really cool guy". He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and lived a large portion of his childhood in Northwest Ontario. He currently lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan and misses being being able to have 4 months of skating every winter.
Clink has written over 240 articles for CFL News Hub. He was the publication's boots on the ground at the 2023 Grey Cup in Hamilton.
Clink has always had an obsession for sport and has a background in other sports as well having played hockey all his life and soccer, basketball, and lacrosse in high school. As a young child he used to log his hockey statistics after every game which is either an indication that he was destined for the role or perhaps and indication that he is rather strange.
