De’Anthony Thomas has recently announced that he will be opting out of the 2020 season, leaving the door wide open for James Proche to make an impact.
It’s not often that sixth-round picks make instant impacts for teams. There are few Antonio Brown‘s and Tom Brady‘s to be found and most burn out rather quickly. Expectations therefore must be tempted for players selected that late, which includes the Baltimore Ravens own James Proche.
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Proche was ultra-productive during his four seasons at SMU, racking up nearly 4,000 receiving yards and 39 touchdowns. Proche was a huge reason the Mustangs won ten games in 2019 in an offense that never put up fewer than 28 PPG. He has terrific hands and is certainly dangerous after the catch. However, a modest size profile (5’11” 193-lbs.) and average speed in a stacked wide receiver draft caused him to slip into kate day three of the 2020 NFL Draft.
The Ravens were more than happy to stop his slide and fans were pumped about the addition of such a quality player so late in the draft. Even in a somewhat deep group of guys, Ravens Flock remains quite high on the 23-year old wideout.
Well after some breaking COVID-19 news involving the team, perhaps there’s even more reason to get excited about James Proche in 2020.
De’Anthony Thomas, who was set to be Baltimore’s primary special teams return man, has opted out of the 2020 season. This leaves a vacated spot for the team with few options to fill it. Justice Hill could get some looks, but he didn’t return any punts last season and averaged a mediocre 18.9 YPA on kick returns. This leaves the door open for James Proche.
Over his last three seasons, Proche returned 37 punts for 329-yards (8.9 YPA). While Proche never returned one to the house, he did show off some shiftiness on his returns. Proche actually entered the offseason as Thomas’s main competition for punt return duties and now that Thomas is out it feels like it Proche’s job to lose.
I can’t emphasize enough that we must keep our expectations low for a sixth-round draft choice, but James Proche might have found himself a full-time role with the Baltimore Ravens that he could thrive in. Proche’s opportunity is a big one that he could seize. Should he do that, perhaps he could find more opportunities in year one than we may fairly expect.