Ravens rookie WR Devin Duvernay is in the mix to start at returner
The Baltimore Ravens want to have more juice and get more production from their return game in 2020. They’ve missed that dangerous playmaker lining up back deep that can flip the field or even spark a swing in momentum with a score ever since Jacoby Jones last season with the team in 2014. The competition for the starting spot is wide open at this point with what has been an ever-growing list of potential candidates.
At first, it was considered a two-horse race between rookie James Proche and veteran receiver/return specialist DeAnthony Thomas but after Thomas opted out of the 2020 season due COVID-19 health concerns, Head Coach John Harbaugh expressed his confidence in the first-year player’s ability to perform the return duties and even said that the job was “his to win”.
Just when the sixth-round pick out of SMU seemed like the winner by default the team brought in veteran running back/return specialist Kenjon Barner to add an experienced insurance policy to the competition according to Special Teams Coordinator Chris Horton.
However, on Monday, following the Ravens’ first padded practice, Harbaugh was asked about a different rookie that was practice fielding punts and looked good at it too.
“He’s never done that in college,” Harbaugh said about rookie receiver Devin Duvernay. “But he’s got good hands, he’s got a good feel for it. He’ll be part of the conversation.”
Duvernay was selected in the third round of April’s draft out of Texas and unlike Proche, he’s expected to be featured heavily in Baltimore’s passing game as a rookie and could eventually take over the majority of the slot receiver duties from veteran Willie Snead.
Receivers tend to make some of the best returners because the requisite skillsets to excel at both overlaps. They both need to be able to track the ball in the air and judge where their body is in relation to the boundary of the field parameters as well as proximity to would-be tacklers. They need to be able to not just make and secure the catch but also not was too much time moving laterally and get up the field vertically in a hurry to get maximum yardage.
Duvernay is a beast of a runner after the catch that breaks tackles and fights for extra yards like a running back once he gets in the open field. While he didn’t return any punts for the Longhorns during his four-year collegiate career, he did record 550 yards on 26 career kick returns for a 21.2 average.
The Ravens will continue to evaluate all their options at every position that has yet to be solidified throughout the remainder of training camp and even into the regular season if need be. As far as who will be back deep returner kicks and punts for the team when they welcome their AFC North division rival Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in Week One, it’s really anyone’s job to win at this point.
