Possible reunion?

The Tennessee Titans brought in wide receiver Drew Bennett for a visit on Monday.  Bennett, a former Titan and fan favorite, was released by the Rams in February after only two seasons in St. Louis.  Bennett signed with the Rams in 2007 as a free agent with a six-year deal valued at $30 million. 

However, despite his successes in Tennessee in the first six years of his career (2001-06), Drew never managed to stay healthy enough to carry over his production with his new team.  Now--only two years after signing a highly inflated free agent contract--Bennett finds himself on the other end of free agency, desperately seeking offers from teams, not receiving much interest.  Bennett met with Cleveland last week and with Atlanta the week before, but has not received any offers of employment.  Now Tennessee is knocking.

Tennessee presents a bit of a different situation for Bennett than other teams can.  Perhaps most significantly, it poses the opportunity to reunite Bennett with an offensive coordinator and system with which he is already familiar.  Most of Bennett's years in Tennessee were under the guidance and schemes of offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, from 2001 through 2004. 

Also different from the roles he could be expected to fill in another city, in Nashville Bennett would only be expected to compete for the third, possibly even the fourth WR spot on the roster.  Bennett will not be play the role of the team's #1 wideout or be expected to lead the team in receptions as he did in 2005.  The top of the wide receiver roster is already pretty much set between Justin Gage and Nate Washington, and the team has high expectations for second-year man, Lavelle Hawkins, and first-round draft pick, Kenny Britt.  At this stage in his career, Tennessee's only interest in Bennett is as a role player. 

And Bennett isn't fooling himself and knows exactly what would be expected of him if he were to sign with his old team this spring.  And he's fine with that.  “I feel like if something gets done here that I can come in and help complement the guys they have.  I know I wouldn't be coming in as a No. 1 guy. They have a lot invested in guys like Nate [Washington] and Justin Gage and also the first-round pick [Kenny Britt]. But I think I could come in and compete and complement those guys," Bennett said on Monday. 

Already, Tennessee fans seem to be grumbling about the possibility of adding another "re-tread" to the roster.  Although Bennett was fairly popular in his initial stint with the team and while he still remains popular with many fans, the memory of last year's disaster with the Justin McCareins experiment is still fresh on the minds of all.  Many of the things that were promised of Justin McCareins last year to help fans feel comfortable with bringing him back are being said now of Bennett to help rally support--the injury concerns are behind him, he'll be healthy this year, he'll return to his earlier form, he's a savvy vet already familiar with the system, he'll just be a role player and won't be starting, he's a good blocker in the running game.  The profiles on the two players are just about identical. 

However there are a few perceiveable differences.  For beginners, Justin McCareins has never matched the production of Bennett's two best years.  McCareins's best season came in his first year with the New York Jets, pulling in 56 catches in 2004.  Bennett has posted a seasons of 58 catches (2005) and 80 catches (2004).  And while many Titans fans complain about the inconsistency Bennett battled his last few years in Tennessee, I can think of no other receiver in Tennessee history this side of Derrick Mason who has posted as many clutch receptions as Bennett. 

Yet fond memories, hot-streak seasons, and clutch catches aside, there is some legitimate concern about a Drew Bennett return to Tennessee.  Discounting his two seasons in St. Louis where, due to injuries (and playing on an awful team), he started only one game and appeared in only 15, I've looked at his value-adjusted numbers according to FootballOutsiders.com for his two final seasons in Tennessee ('05-'06).  The numbers are telling. 

In 2005, under a feeble Norm Chow offense and with a likely half-hearted and half-healthy Steve McNair (again, warm fuzzy feelings aside), Bennett's Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement (DYAR) and Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) were downright pitiful.  In '05, Bennett ranked amongst the bottom 20 out of 89 players ranked in DYAR*.  Bennett also had a DVOA of -11.2%, meaning he was actually 11.2 percentage points below the average*.  Bennett also posted a 53% catch rate** (for the record, McCareins's catch rate in '05 was even worse at 42%).  Bennett did not fair much better in 2006 in his second season under the Chow offense and with instability at the quarterback position (rookie Vince Young took over in Week 5).  Bennett ranked in the bottom 30 of 84 players ranked in DYAR and was still in the negative DVOA at -7.9%.  His catch rate was once again sub-par in 2006 coming in at 47%. 

Of course, one cannot discount the fact that by all means and measures the Norm Chow offensive system never proved to be prolific, efficient, or even proficient in three seasons in the NFL, and relied heavily upon getting the ball out quickly off of two- and three-step drops, hitting tight ends underneath, and rotating receivers in and out of games.  Furthermore, the numbers may also be offset due to instability at the quarterback position (McNair played in 14 games in 2005, and I cannot recall how many of those he was 100% healthy in, while rookie Vince Young produced more big plays on the ground than in the air throughout the 2006 campaign).  But for a fan-base starved for consistency out of the team's wide receivers, the numbers on Bennett do not look encouraging.

Having said all this, while the stat books cast a cloud over a potential Drew Bennett signing, the fact that things have changed significantly on offense--and for the better--since Drew's last performance in a Titan uniform offers reason for some optimism if he should suit up in two-tone blue again.

And even if Alge Crumpler won't give up Drew's old #83, at least Bennett's old #19 is available.  Oh wait--it's still warm from the Justin McCareins experiment.  Maybe that's not such a good idea.

*According to Football Outsiders, DYAR "gives the value of the performance on plays where this WR caught the ball," while DVOA "represents value, per play, over an average WR in the same game situations. The more positive the DVOA rating, the better the player's performance."  Simply put "DYAR means a wide receiver with more total value. DVOA means a wide receiver with more value per play."
**According to Football Outsiders, "Catch Rate represents the percentage of passes to this receiver completed. This is a reference to incomplete passes, not dropped passes; dropped passes are not specified in publicly available play-by-play."