Jun 4th 2008 12:33PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, NFC West, St. Louis Last offseason, the Rams let slot receiver Kevin Curtis sign with Philadelphia but thought that they had covered their tracks by signing Drew Bennett (because, as we all know, white receivers are all exactly the same). That turned out to be, uh, not so smart — Curtis had 1,110 yards and six touchdowns, Bennett had 375 and three.

Of course, the situations they were in played a part in that discrepancy — it’s naive to think Curtis would have had such a great season if he stayed in St. Louis — but Bennett just isn’t a very good player. He’s still living off the reputation the briefly-prolific Billy Volek-Bennett connection produced, when the duo caught fire towards the end of the 2004 season, but you don’t see anyone arguing for Volek as a legitimate starting quarterback. Other than that aberration, Bennett is an average third option who routinely sits near the bottom of the league in catch percentage.

Which is why it makes perfect sense that the Rams handed him a starting job this season. Actually, it’s a promotion borne out of necessity, as the team doesn’t have any other viable option opposite of Torry Holt. Bennett is saying all the right things about bouncing back, but I’m dubious. Sure, I expect the offense to be better, but with Holt’s knee deteriorating the team doesn’t have a receiver to draw attention from Bennett.

Maybe he doubles his numbers from last year, which is a step in the right direction, but falling in line with his career thus far — serviceable, yet wholly overrated.