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Is the Tennessee Titans receiving corps cursed?
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(Photo By: Jonathan Mohan/2009)
A curse? Nah…that’s only for superstitious people, right?
You can’t blame the franchise for trying to remedy their void over the years by signing big-name free agents Yancy Thigpen, Carl Pickens, David Givens, Eric Moulds, Mike Williams and drafting such promising young players as Kevin Dyson, Tyrone Calico, and the latest closed chapter, Chris Davis.
The newest Titan to fall victim to the so-called curse is Nate Washington.
Washington, who signed a six-year deal this off-season worth $27 million with $9 million guaranteed, was running a route in a 1-on-1 drill against DeMarcus Faggins on Monday during training camp. As he turned the corner, Washington hit the ground pounding his fist and grasping for the back of his right leg. The dreaded “hammy” strikes again.
An MRI was scheduled for Monday evening but what we know now is that Washington will miss the remainder of preseason and his status for the September 10th opener against his former team, the Super Bowl Champion Steelers is currently disposed. Already showing signs of what he can do with the Titans offense, we will have to just take the wait and watch approach with Washington’s injury.
The most prolific dropped ball of them all is...?
In the past bad luck and poor draft-day decisions has surely run its course through the Tennessee Titans organization. This year the Titans selected Kenny Britt out of Rutgers in the first round of the draft with the hopes of landing that franchise receiver. Although Britt missed the start of camp with a hamstring injury, (sound familiar) he seems to possess the necessary tools to become a top receiver in this league. His performance in the Bucs preseason game was a perfect exhibition of what could be the future of the Titans offense.
While the Titans are still searching for that game changer, one name seems to haunt the front office at night, and that name is Derrick Mason.
Mason accounted for a massive portion of the Oilers/Titans offense by serving as not only the number one receiver, but also as the most reliable return man they have had since Billy “White Shoes” Johnson. Over his 12-year career, Mason has hauled in 790 receptions for 10,061 and 52 touchdowns. He amounted 5086 yards and 3 touchdowns returning a combined total of 338 kicks and punts.
How the Titans ever decided to let this man walk and join the Baltimore Ravens is still sickening to my stomach. Mason has went over 1000 yards seven times in his career and just missing his eighth by a 100 yards. The Titans haven’t had a 1,000-yard receiver since Drew Bennett and Derrick Mason both exceeded the mark in the 2004 campaign.
We all make mistakes, right?
In 1998, the Titans selected Kevin Dyson instead of Randy Moss. To be fair, 19 other teams passed on the former Marshall standout due to his character issues and nagging history. That seemed to not be an topic of discussion when we drafted Adam "Pacman" Jones and look how that debacle turned out. No offense to Dyson, but we might have seen more than one Music City Miracle over the years with Moss wearing Tennessee Titan blue. Don’t get me wrong, Dyson was a decent player for the franchise but he was absolutely no Randy Moss.
Lets compare the numbers for the two first-round draft picks from 1998.
Dyson: 178 REC 2,325 YDS 13.1 AVG 39.4 YDS/G 18 TD 115 First Downs
Moss: 843 REC 13,201 YDS 15.7 AVG 77.7 YDS/G 135 TD 600 First Downs
Yes, Moss has had some serious cannons in Dante Culpepper and Tom Brady, but could you imagine what a monster Moss, Mason and McNair could of evolved into? Combined with our ferocious defense, who knows what the last ten years could have been like? Ahhhh..It’s always nice to be able to dream.
Read more: 2009 season outlook for the Tennessee Titans
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