Titans sign WR Mike Williams

Posted by Stephen Rhodes on November 23rd, 2007 filed in News, Opinions

                      

The Tennessee Titans, from the looks of it, have put their current receiving corps on notice.  On Thursday, the team signed Ex-Detroit Lion and Oakland Raider wide receiver Mike Williams for at least the balance of the season; the Raiders released Williams on October 30.  He was on the practice field Thursday, but only worked on the scout team drills.

There is a little bit of a past between the Titans and Williams; during this past offseason, the team nearly traded for him while Williams was a member of the Lions, but Detroit instead traded him to the Oakland Raiders.  Williams had signed a six-year, $13.5 million contract with the Lions back in 2005, but he never panned out, catching only 37 passes for 449 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Raiders had even less patience; they only kept him for 6 games - and 2 days after dropping a 4th-down pass that enabled the Titans to defeat the Raiders 13-9 on October 28.  According to Titans starting running back LenDale White, the titans made a good move in acquiring Williams, telling Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean, “Sometimes surroundings, coaching staff, it changes things.  He can do whatever he wants to do.  He is going to work. … They like him a lot or they wouldn’t have brought him in.  I know what he can do, so I am excited about it.”

Although White didn’t go into specifics into what Willians could do, one thing is for certain about Williams: this may be his best (and last) chance to stick in this league.  He had chances in Detroit (a pass-happy team if ever I saw one) and Oakland (their lack of quality receivers should’ve made him a starter), but for whatever reason couldn’t make it work at both places. 

While it is true that the Titan wideouts have been inconsistent - and I obviously don’t have the inside track as to the availability of WR’s this late in the season - I wonder if Tennessee looked hard enough for a WR who doesn’t have the issues that Williams has.  Also factor in that Williams will be working with a quarterback who is totally different than ones he has worked with in the past - Detroit had Kitna, while Oakland had several QB’s during that time.  So to say that Williams has his work cut out for him is probably an understatement.