First off, let me say that I have heard nothing of any "Rice to the Titans" rumors floating around, it's just a projected scenario in which somehow, he ends up wearing the flaming thumbtacks on his helmet next year.
Now that that's out of the way, outside of Kenny Britt, wide receiver was kind of an empty position for Tennessee in 2010. Say what you will about the growth and potential of Damian Williams or Lavelle Hawkins, (most of it I'd agree with) neither of them have done anything on the field yet worth writing home about. A playmaker to stretch the field even further with Kenny Britt out wide and Chris Johnson in the backfield would be awesome.
I know, I know, we've heard it all before. The Randy Moss experiment failed miserably whether it was his fault or not, but that doesn't necessarily mean we should just give up does it? Consider this: outside of Kenny Britt who was sensational in his healthy weeks last week, the Titans leading receiver was Nate Washington with 42 catches while no other wide receiver had more than 20 receptions.That type of sustained poor play and lack of a real threat playing our number two receiver lead to a major offensive collapse in the second half that no one wants to remember. Getting that type of production again will obviously not translate into wins or improved offensive production.
So while Rice brings an injury history and the "one year wonder" label, I've been following him very closely ever since he broke into the league a few years ago and I've consistently picked him to break out. He finally did that in 2009. Rice caught 83 passes for 1,312 yards and 8 touchdowns in an offense based around the run. I'm quaking with excitement over what I think he could accomplish in a west coast offense.
For those who don't know, and you really should, the west coast offense is based around splitting your receivers in such a way that confuses the defense and creates mismatches with size or, much more commonly, speed. Rice and Britt offer a little bit of both of those. I never though I'd say this, but having two nearly identical receivers who have talent through the roof was tough to watch last year. Maybe second time could be the charm? Fingers crossed.