Who Should I Start? Trent Taylor or James Proche II

Wednesday, June 4, 6:35 PM

The San Francisco 49ers announced on Tuesday that they placed wide receiver Trent Taylor (undisclosed) on Injured Reserve and signed receiver Malik Knowles to an undisclosed one-year deal in a corresponding move. It's unclear exactly what Taylor's injury is, but he's now expected to miss the entire 2025 season. The 31-year-old former fifth-round pick (177th overall) in 2017 out of Louisiana Tech spent the first three years of his career in the Bay Area before going to the Cincinnati Bengals for two years and the Chicago Bears in 2023. In just two games in his return to the Niners last season, Taylor caught his only target for an 11-yard pickup. Taylor has been a depth piece in his career and has a total of 88 receptions for 845 yards and only three touchdowns on 138 targets over 80 games played (three starts) since debuting in 2017.

Friday, August 1, 2:54 PM

Tennessee Titans wide receiver James Proche II has been "the most productive receiver in 11-on-11 drills" in the team's training camp practices, according to Easton Freeze of AtoZ Sports. The 28-year-old is in his first year in Tennessee after spending the last two years with the Cleveland Browns. Proche II has recorded 28 catches in 62 career NFL games, so a breakout this year with the Titans would be quite the surprise. Tennessee has established veterans Calvin Ridley and Tyler Lockett atop their wide receiver depth chart, but there could be opportunity behind them, particularly after former first-round pick Treylon Burks was released by the team earlier this week. Proche II's main competition for playing time figures to be rookies Elic Ayomanor and Chimere Dike, both of whom were selected in the fourth round of the 2025 draft. He's still a long way from fantasy relevance, but Proche II could be someone to keep an eye on in Titans preseason action.