Proehl A Prize Catch Disgruntled Ex-Card To Help Seahawks’ Air Game Take Off

As Ricky Proehl saw it, he wasn’t really traded from the Phoenix Cardinals.

He was paroled.

Set free from an intolerable situation.

Week after week, he heard coach Buddy Ryan trash him and other offensive players, whom Ryan viewed as undesirables to be tolerated. Barely.

“The situation there was just awful,” said Proehl, probably the happiest Seattle Seahawk in training camp. “It wasn’t just me he was all over, but Steve Beuerlein and Gary Clark, too. If you were on the offense, it’s like you were on a different team.”

The consistent Proehl appears a bargain pick-up, acquired in exchange for a fourth-round draft choice. A durable possession receiver, he is expected to be a perfect complement to veteran Brian Blades and rookie Joey Galloway in the Hawks’ three-receiver operation.

It’s an opportunity Proehl relishes. Of course, he’d have probably snapped up a roster spot in Arena Football if it was the only ticket out of Phoenix.

“It was the first time since I’ve played football, like 20 years, that I hated to go to practice,” Proehl said of the Cardinals under Ryan. “There was no fun. You always look forward to Sundays, but the rest of it was absolutely terrible.

“Any time you wake up and read the paper and the coach is filling it with negative remarks about you and your teammates, it’s tough to stay motivated to play for a coach like that,” Proehl said.

Proehl failed to pull in a potential touchdown catch in the season opener against the Rams - a dead horse that Ryan beat the rest of the season.

Not coincidentally, Proehl, Beuerlein, Clark and receiver Randal Hill are all with different clubs this fall.

When Dennis Erickson and his staff were hired in January, the first order was to upgrade the receiver corps with a promise of drafting a speedy rookie and bringing in a veteran to help out. After all, the team had finished 26th in the league in passing in 1994.

“When we looked at Ricky, we saw a very solid player, very savvy, who knows how to operate on the field,” said Bob Bratkowski, Hawks offensive coordinator. “He’s accountable, always knowing where he needs to be. He doesn’t pull surprises for the quarterback.”

No, there have been no surprises from Proehl, who has never caught fewer than 51 passes in five NFL seasons. In fact, he hasn’t pulled in fewer than 50 passes a season since his freshman year at Wake Forest.

“You look at the long-term and how a receiver performs, and Ricky has always found ways to get open and make plays,” Bratkowski said. “We saw a great deal of consistency.”

Proehl has been nursing a sore hamstring early in training camp, but impressed the staff during the three minicamps by simply catching every ball thrown in his neighborhood.

He particularly shines in one drill the Seahawks use. As receivers jog through a short route, Bratkowski fires knuckle balls at them - high, low, with irregular rotation - to hone their abilities to make the difficult catch.

Proehl generally pulls those in one-handed, making them appear easy.

The key to his consistency, meanwhile, lies in preparation.

“You have to be willing to prepare yourself every week, watch film and study the game plan,” he said. “If you’re not well prepared, you won’t be able to deal with difficult situations.”

The flexibility of the Seahawks’ new offense intrigues Proehl.

“Any time you have the option to change your route on the run, it’s definitely an advantage - which we can do,” Proehl said. “When you’re limited to just the one route, the defense dictates how successful you are. In an offense like this, we dictate the action and force them to make decisions.

“It’s a wide-open scheme that’s going to be exciting to watch and be a part of.”

If that sounds like enthusiasm from a player who had gone sour on the game, it is.

“This is a young team with a lot of talent and I think that’s gonna mean some great things this season,” Proehl said.

And the head coach, compared to the bombastic Buddy?

“Coach Erickson is somebody you can talk to,” Proehl said. “He’s the kind of guy you like to play for. Believe me, I know the difference.”

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