Factoid
That was a shocking move by the Seahawks today. They’re releasing (if they can’t trade) TJ Houshmandzadeh, just a year after they signed him to a big free agent deal that includes him receiving $7 million guaranteed this year.
Amazing that they’ll pay him that kind of money for not even playing, but it’s clear he’s not a difference-maker type receiver. In their preseason games, he hasn’t looked any better than their other wide receivers (most notably Deion Branch and Mike Williams).
Houshmandzadeh isn’t a particularly large receiver (6-2, 203) and he’s simply not fast enough. He doesn’t have the speed to get behind defenses.
In the last five years, in fact, Houshmandzadeh has only one reception of 50-plus yards. That came on a 53-yard pass at Arizona last year, in which he was run down after the catch.
Houshmandzadeh’s longest catches by year:
Year Rec Long
2005 78 43T
2006 90 40T
2007 112 42T
2008 92 46
2009 79 53
All totaled, that’s 453 catches with only one catch of 50-plus yards.
Some of that can be attributed to the way he’s been used, running mostly shorter routes, but he’s simply not fast enough.
—Ian Allan
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Posted by Michael Rogers | Sep. 04 at 03:09 AM
I don't understand why NFL teams on the one hand and NFL players on the other, continue to believe that things will work out in ways that seem pretty obvious to "lay people". Everybody knew that Housh wasn't fast back when he was in Cincinnati. Yet, Seattle thought that he could become an elite WR for the Seahawks? Why? Sometimes its not based on speed, it's just the reality that players aren't that good, they just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Seattle, in particular, has been notorious for acquiring these types of players. Housh, Branch, Burleson (and likely Mike Williams this season) were all good role players on their prior teams (other than Williams who's never been good), but they showed nothing in Seattle. Javon Walker, Drew Bennett, Laverneus Coles, Braylon Edwards, and Roy Williams are other players of this ilk who come to mind. Vincent Jackson will be the next player on this list. He's really not that good; he just happened to play for a great offensive team with a lot of weapons. But some team desperate for a WR will think that he will be the answer. He's won't be.