Will Brady Make Kenny Britt Good Again

Britt smoked the Eagles secondary.

Kenny Britt's story is inappreciably a secret. Equally a freshman at Rutgers in 2006, his 64-thousand catch turned the tide in the biggest win in schoolhouse history. The next yr, he was part of a dynamic offense: Ray Rice rushed for 2,012 yards, Tiquan Underwood caught 65 passes for 1100 yards and 7 touchdowns, and Britt was the large play threat, gaining ane,232 yards and 8 touchdowns on 62 catches. In 2008, Britt caught 87 passes for 1,371 yards and vii touchdowns. Afterward his junior yr, the dynamic college receiver fabricated the obvious move and declared for the NFL Draft. He then watched his hometown Giants take Hakeem Nicks one pick earlier the Titans made Britt the showtime Rutgers player ever to be selected in the showtime round.

Before analyzing his NFL career, I think it's important to remember that Britt is young for his course yr: he played in his get-go NFL game earlier he was one-time plenty to legally potable. Despite the immature age, Britt didn't disappoint, producing 701 receiving yards every bit a rookie in '09. He even produced a signature moment, catching the game-winning touchdown laissez passer from Vince Young in what was one of the greatest comeback drives of all fourth dimension (no, really — I swear).

Britt's 2010 season looks like modest improvement on the surface, but his 775 yards and 9 touchdowns don't tell the full story. According to Pro Football Focus, Britt only ran passing routes on 253 snaps that flavor, but averaged a whopping 3.i yards per route run, hands the highest rate in the league. The obvious follow-up question is why didn't he run more routes? Well, the 2010 Titans were a run-heavy squad centered around Chris Johnson; Tennessee finished 30th with just 474 pass attempts. Britt also missed nearly v full games with a hamstring injury, and Tennessee tended to place Nate Washington on the field in their ane-WR sets. Those seem like reasonable explanations for overlooking why a 22-year-one-time would play a express number of snaps. The impressive part is his insane production.

That set 2011 up as a very interesting twelvemonth: could Britt maintain that stride on more snaps? Was he well-nigh to emerge as the side by side elite wide receiver? On Britt's kickoff 94 laissez passer routes, he gained 289 yards, producing yet another superb 3.one YPRR average. Unfortunately, his 94th road was his last: Britt missed the rest of the season after tearing his ACL and MCL following a hitting past Broncos rubber Rahim Moore. ((I gauge Britt should have only ran a go road. Too soon, Denver fans?))

Okay, so would 2012 exist the breakout season? Not by a longshot. Britt struggled terminal twelvemonth, producing a line of but 45/589/four in 14 games and 11 starts. Merely in addition to dealing with the inconsistent Jake Locker, Britt was never fully salubrious. He had hamstring issues in training military camp, an ankle injury early on in the year, and his knee never seemed right, either (violent 2 ligaments in your knee tends to have an touch on on normal humans).

So what should we await from Britt in 2013? The optimist would say that now two full years removed from surgery, Britt could be finally ready to emerge as a star receiver. The pessimist would focus on Britt's disability to stay on the field and the laundry list of off-the-field bug (he's had nine incidents involving the police since inbound the NFL).

I spoke with Thomas Gower of Total Titans and Football Outsiders, and asked him his thoughts.

Q: How much practice yous blame the ACL/MCL injury for Britt'due south dropoff last flavour?

TG: There'due south no doubt in my mind the injury and rust associated with it had a lot to do with Britt'due south down 2012 entrada. Physically, he just didn't move like nosotros'd seen a healthy Kenny Britt move. Not the same speed, not the aforementioned explosion, just not the same player. Even when he had his big game late in the season against Indianapolis, he wasn't the old Kenny Britt. I believe he said he got amend throughout the season (because of the offseason surgeries, including one on the non-ACL knee, he missed all of training camp even) and ended the yr at well-nigh fourscore%. The injury-related layoff likewise simply destroyed his sense of timing. He visibly battled the ball all year long, and he's said this offseason he had trouble adjusting to the speed of the ball coming out of the quarterback's easily. Information technology wasn't just Locker's occasional tendency to fastball short throws, either, as he struggled catching passes from Hasselbeck as well.

Q: Do you think that sets upward 2013 as a bounceback flavour for Britt?

TG: As to what to expect from Britt this twelvemonth, information technology'southward hard to say. All accounts from OTAs are that he's if non absolutely 100% healthy, he'south pretty close to it. He has the physical talent to be as good as about whatever wide receiver in the game. The big question bated from health has been how mentally focused he is abroad from the field on being the best football role player he can be. I don't have a expert feel for that, but he showed in 2010 that he can put up relatively good numbers even without platonic technique refinement. As long as he'due south good for you, I expect him to play plenty, maybe eighty% of snaps. I don't look him to be a keen fantasy wide receiver, though. The Titans are shifting to the run game as the focus of the criminal offense, naturally limiting his numbers, broad receiver depth is improve, and frankly, I don't trust him to play all 16 games.

Q: I agree with you that adding Chance Warmack and Shonn Greene should make Tennessee a more run-heavy team. But what do you brand of the fact that the Titans have spent top-35 picks in consecutive years on wide receivers not named Britt or Nate Washington? That's an odd use of resources for a team that wants to have only 2 wide receivers on the field.

TG: I think the Titans will look a lot similar they did in the second one-half of 2009 and in 2010. Personnel-wise, they'll run a lot of two tight ends, and with Delanie Walker instead of Jared Cook, they have iii relatively good blockers and no relatively good receivers at the position.

The Justin Hunter pick was near a couple things. First, they didn't take a pure speed receiver. Kendall Wright at Baylor seemed like he might be that guy, only indications from his rookie year and what they've said about him say that he's non. Second, 2013 will almost certainly be Kenny Britt'southward last flavor in Tennessee. Betwixt his injuries and off-the-field issues, the Titans seem frustrated enough with him I can't meet a state of affairs where they're willing to pay him what he thinks he'south worth. Tertiary, their merely wideout under contract for 2022 who was a lock to be there (before taking Hunter) was Wright. Lavelle Hawkins was released mail-draft, and at that place's no manner Nate Washington is going to be around at $4.8 million.

There's a relatively skillful risk Washington gets cutting this yr. He'due south not a great exterior receiver, even as a #2, and he's due to make $4.ii million. Yes, he'southward been their most reliable receiver the past two seasons, but he's not so proficient they can't cut him. I think the Titans would exist fine, relatively speaking, rolling with Britt, Wright, Hunter, Kevin Walter, and Damian Williams every bit their grouping.

Q: Thank you, Tom. Last question: I'm non much of a Locker fan. Practice you lot retrieve he turns it on this year?

TG: The optimistic point of view is Locker never got to a good level of trust in Chris Palmer's choice road-heavy offense, and hesitated too much. He'd wait for guys to break open up, and that gave defenses more time to react. Cynics (like me) say he'south always been a "see it, throw it" passer who lacks apprehension, so that was nil new. By giving him more predictable routes, he tin can read a defense force and make a throw. Information technology's a grade of apprehension, albeit a relatively robotic one that doesn't react well to stress (encounter Dalton, Andy). Accurateness problems, y'all say? What accuracy problems?

Previous "Random Perspective On" Articles:
AFC East: Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets
AFC North: Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South: Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans
AFC West: Denver Broncos, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers
NFC East: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins
NFC North: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Greenish Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings
NFC S: Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFC West: Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams

kitchenfirwass.blogspot.com

Source: http://www.footballperspective.com/can-kenny-britt-become-the-next-great-wide-receiver/

Share this post