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It hasn’t been the best of offseasons for Packers linebacker Nick Perry.

He learned that the team wouldn’t exercise their option on his contract for the 2016 season, leaving him on track to become a free agent after the season. His preparations for that free agency have been hampered by shoulder surgery to repair an injury that hindered him last season and may not leave him ready to get on the field at the start of training camp.

Perry said Tuesday that he “would love to be ready to go” for camp, but couldn’t guarantee it.

“It’s pretty frustrating knowing the opportunities, knowing how great I can be and just looking behind me and seeing some of those lagging issues over the past I wish weren’t there,” Perry said, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “But it’s football. I don’t have any control over it. Freakish stuff happens. You just have to keep playing. It’s never an excuse to become great. So this year, same approach. Keep improving. Be ready to go. The opportunity’s still there. I’m just thankful for the opportunity that I do have.”

Perry’s generally ineffective play last year may have been due to the shoulder, but the injury doesn’t change the fact that he’s going to have to do considerably better in 2015 to land a nice deal in Green Bay or anywhere else in 2016. With Clay Matthews seeing more time inside, there will be snaps to earn on the outside. Perry just needs to get healthy enough to earn them.