Tony's Titans: Wide Receivers

Sitting here realising I've got nothing better to do, may as well churn along with my all-time Titans. I mean, they're hardly all-time, just nine years' worth, but all-time sounds much cooler.

#5 Randy Moss
2010-present

Titans Career
6 receptions for 80 yards, 13.3 Avg

All-Time Career
954 receptions for 14,858 yards, 153 TDs, 15.6 Avg
25 rushes for 159 yards, 6.4 Avg

Okay, cry foul on this one if you must. Randy Moss was more of a disappointment in Tennessee than I could have possibly fathomed, but I still think it's oh so cool that one of the game's best wide receivers ended up a Titan.

He's a free agent, I know, and he's most likely not coming back, but until he signs elsewhere (which, granted, he can't, given the labour situation), he'll maintain that status as a current player.

Who's to blame for Moss' disastrous tenure? It's either Moss himself for a lack of effort, or Jeff Fisher for an inability to get him onto the field. I lean towards the latter; if you can't find a way to get one of the league's greatest receivers into the game, there is seriously something wrong there.

History can never be changed. But for a short, uneventful period, Randy Moss was a Tennessee Titan. I can pretend it was a whole lot better than it was.

#4 Roydell Williams
2005-2007

Titans Career
84 receptions for 1,139 yards, 6 TDs, 13.6 Avg
2 rushes for -17 yards, -8.5 Avg

All-Time Career
92 receptions for 1,248 yards, 6 TDs, 13.6 Avg
2 rushes for -17 yards, -8.5 Avg

If you weren't boggled by that last one, you probably are now. In my defence, it's not my fault the Titans have had such a poor receiving corps over the last nine years. I'm certainly not the one who drafted them.

Of the 2005 wide receiver draft class, Courtney Roby did nothing for the Titans (though had the last laugh, winning a Super Bowl as a return man for the Saints) and Brandon Jones was the most productive... But Roydell? Man, he was my boy.

I was about to whip out some awesome figures from the end of the '07 season, where I was convinced that Roy had done some damage, but the numbers are actually pretty poor. There was a good game in Kansas City, but that's about it. Hmm.

I backed myself into a corner with this one, didn't I? I knew I should have just stuck with Lavelle Hawkins, the man with the coolest name in Tennessee.

#3 Kenny Britt
2009-present

All-Time Career
84 receptions for 1,476 yards, 12 TDs, 17.6 Avg
24 returns for 523 yards, 56 long, 21.8 Avg

Thankfully, mercifully, Kenny Britt makes an appearance to make this list feel less futile. With just 28 games and 13 starts under his belt, Britt has already become the Titans' best receiver by far, and our biggest threat since Derrick Mason headed to Baltimore back in 2004.

The fact that a guy in only his second year with limited playing time, with some off-season issues, who is even younger than I am, could be the Titans' go-to guy might be a sad reflection on the state of our receivers, but in all fairness, the guy is good. Really good.

He might even be one of the league's best at some point, just as long as we find someone who can consistently get the ball to him. I hope to high hell that that someone won't turn out to be Ryan Mallett. Could you picture it? 'Mallett to Britt'? It sounds like a domestic abuse case. I hate it already.

#2 Drew Bennett
2001-2006

Titans Career
273 receptions for 4,033 yards, 25 TDs, 14.8 Avg
2-3 for 40 yards, 1 TD, 149.3 rating

All-Time Career
307 receptions for 4,412 yards, 28 TDs, 14.4 Avg
2-3 for 40 yards, 1 TD, 149.3 rating

Oh Drew. He was THE MAN.

I loved the one-two punch of Mason and Bennett. Perhaps it's a starry-eyed adoration for the Titans of old, but Bennett will solidly, stubbornly hold onto #2 on my list for quite some time. I mean, Britt could potentially threaten with a monster season (as could my boy Lavelle!), but Bennett was there during our glory years, doing his bit.

And of course, who can forget 2004? During a horrible year followed by a horrible off-season, Billy Volek and Drew Bennett appeared to be the only two guys who still cared. Bennett's 80 catches, 1,247 yards and 11 TDs were the kind of numbers you'd expect form the league's very best, plus tying an NFL record with 8 TDs in 3 games.

Afterwards, Bennett never seemed to recapture that glory, having risen to the top spot. Whether he was ill-suited to the #1 receiver spot, or he suffered from the unfortunate fate of playing across from a trio of rookies, making him targeted by defences, it wasn't the same.

He played two years for the Rams, shortened by injury, and then signed with the Ravens before deciding to pack it all in.

But Bennett's rise could be called grand considering where he started. Undrafted out of UCLA, Bennett actually had to cheat a little to get noticed. He would cut in line during drills as a rookie, so that he would go up against the top defenders on the depth chart instead of the scrubs at the bottom. I mean, jeez, how inspiring is that? That he put it all on the line by bending the rules, just to make a roster spot, and it led to a pinnacle of tying an NFL record?

Great stuff. No wonder he's my second favourite Titans receiver.

#1 Derrick Mason
1997-2004

Titans Career
453 receptions for 6,114 yards, 37 TDs, 13.5 Avg
338 returns for 5,086 yards, 3 TDs, 101 long, 15.0 Avg

All-Time Career
924 receptions for 11,891 yards, 66 TDs, 12.9 Avg
338 returns for 5,086 yards, 3 TDs, 101 long, 15.0 Avg

Obviously. D-Mase was another guy who rose up the ranks, a fourth round return specialist who ended up surpassing first-rounder Kevin Dyson to become the Titans' best receiver.

This one is a lot harder to swallow than others, because while some others on the list (McNair, George, Bennett, etc.) had seen their best years with the Titans before their careers came to an end elsewhere, Mason has been a Raven for six seasons, and shows few signs of slowing down.

All the things that made Mason a good return guy (quickness, elusiveness, field vision) have made him an excellent receiver, and moreover, have allowed him to have a prolonged career.

When he and Samari Rolle jumped ship to the Ravens, I was in dismay. And frankly, that dismay has not at all dissipated in relation to Mason, because he's been gone for so long, so entrenched in Baltimore, and had so many episodes while playing Tennessee that he's really not a Titan anymore.

But he was. I still wish him all the best while simultaneously wishing bad fortune upon the Ravens. Would I like to see him win a championship? Sure, just as long as it isn't with the Ravens, Colts, Jaguars, Texans or Steelers. That's plenty of options, D-Mase. It's an excellent deal!