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The NFL could use more Derrick Masons

When Derrick Mason entered the league in 1995, the wide receiver position was all about size. Michael Irvin, Herman Moore, Rob Moore, Carl Pickens, Jake Reed, Michael Jackson (yeah, save the comment, funny guy), Derrick Alexander and so on. The NFL was obsessed with size at the position (as it remains now) for the first time that era, more than speed and other important traits, and it hurt guys such as Mason, who was smaller (5-foot-10) and not particularly fast, at least by wide receiver standards.

He fell to the fourth round that year, behind such future luminaries as Yatil Green (15th overall pick, 6-foot-2), whose career was cut short by serious injuries; Joey Kent (46th overall pick; 6-1), who had 13 career catches, all as Mason's teammate in Tennessee; Kevin Lockett (47th pick; 6-1), who had eight TDs in eight seasons; and Will Blackwell (53rd pick; 6-1), with his 67 career catches.

It wasn't until the 98th pick that the then-Oilers took Mason, despite a standout career at Michigan State under Nick Saban, and made one of the smartest picks they have in their Tennessee history (later the Titans, of course). After kicking a fumbling problem his rookie season and shedding the stigma that he was merely a punt and kick returner, Mason became one of the league's most steady and dependable receivers.

Of course, overlooking his work as a returner would be criminal. He was a good kick returner and punt returner who -- few might know -- was the most often recipient of what would become perhaps the most famous play in Titans history, the Music City Miracle, in practice. It was Mason, not Kevin Dyson, who typically received the ball on the throwback. But when the play happened in the playoff win over the Bills in the first few days of the new millennium, it was Dyson and not Mason who caught Frank Wycheck's controversial lateral . Of course, Dyson also was on the receiving end of the franchise's other most memorable moment, the final play in the loss to the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV. I bet you a lot of people forget both of those were Dyson and not Mason.

But Mason went on a run from 2000 to last season in which he was one of the best and most consistent wideouts in the game this decade. In fact, he ranks fourth behind Marvin Harrison, Terrell Owens and Randy Moss in receiving yards in the decade. That's something. Look at his incredibly static numbers in those years: only one season with fewer than 1,012 yards and one with fewer than 68 catches.

He didn't have great size, and he wasn't beating a ton of cornerbacks in foot races. But Mason was a tremendously smart and instinctive receiver who just got open. Consider that in 2007, in which he caught a career-best 103 passes, he did so with Kyle Boller throwing his most of his passes. Of course, Mason did his best work in both Baltimore and Tennessee with his fallen friend, Steve McNair, throwing him passes. I wonder if McNair's recent death didn't help push Mason into retirement.

Derrick, we'll miss you.


By Eric Edholm
Posted July 14, 2009 @ 11:47 a.m.
Updated July 14, 2009 @ 1:18 p.m.

http://www.profootballweekly.com/blo...derrick-masons

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