All aboard. A free boarding pass can be handed out to eighty percent of football fanatics. Once they see one glimpse of a great season, it’s a cause for a celebration. Perhaps the athlete does deserve greater attention in fantasy football drafts, but please don’t get out of hand with player projections.

We are not going to name names, but there is a particular fantasy football magazine that has some outrageous player rankings. It’s one thing to be bold, but backing that up with factual evidence would help.

Warning: The next paragraph goes into specifics of the aforementioned.

Okay, when I first saw this wide receiver posted at the numero uno position, I almost past out in laughter. I was so dumbfounded that I dropped the magazine, and paced back and forth real quick. As I rubbed my eyes and glanced down again, the previous vision was still there.

Drew Bennett…2005’s number one receiver.

Yes, yes, laugh it up. If comedy central had their own fantasy football show, then this would be a reasonable determination. Wait, take that back, it still wouldn’t.

It still has me shaking worse than Charlie Murphy’s giggling during the Prince episode on Dave Chappelle.

There are so many mind boggling factors that would ring a bell to not even consider Bennett as a top ten receiver.

Before we start on that top five list, we want to say that this has nothing negatively to do with Drew Bennett. The sole purpose of this article is to clear cobwebs out of owners that may have been brainwashed from reading that magazine.

Breathe in deeply, and arrive back to Earth.

5. Derrick Mason’s Gone
Drew Bennett has developed rapidly, but will now have the burden of leading the receiving corp. Derrick Mason had that pressure for the last several years, and helped Bennett’s growth tremendously.

4. Size
Big receivers with quickness and extreme raw ability are linked hand and hand. At 6’5, Bennett is listed in that category of rare receivers that aren’t project players melting on the sideline. Still, when is the last time a tall receiver has done well in the NFL? Uh, Uh? Plaxico Burress and Marcus Robinson are the only two to even consider. The key point with those two athletes is consistency. They’ll bounce back and forth on the radar with a few off the chart performances, but then there are the weeks when they won’t even catch the ball. It’s a problematic situation that won’t go away with tall receivers.

3. McNair’s Health
Steve McNair deserves a lot of praise for what he has endured over the last several years. If he is fully recovered there is no kind of ending script to see how he can finish out his veteran years. That has been a big if over the last few seasons, so that gap of certainty bumps Bennett down automatically. When McNair tried to play hurt last year it hurt the offenses direction. McNair also is a chain to chain quarterback, while Bennett is a big play receiver. That doesn’t mesh well, unless the Titans plan on opening up the deep pass. Figuring two to two together and banking on Bennett as the number one receiver just is out of the question.

2. Travis Henry and Chris Brown
Here are two running backs that could easily both be ranked as top fifteen in the league. There won’t be an official starter, as Jeff Fisher has stated that they will use both. Expect the Titans to be running the ball effectively with both backs like the Falcons and Rams do. That could open up the deep ball for Bennett after long drawn out drives catch the defense sleeping.

1. Where’s Volek?
Looking…looking….looking. There it is. During the three week stretch from NFL week thirteen through fifteen, Bennett produced more than half of his season totals. His yardage numbers were 517, and touchdowns was eight. Take that away and for thirteen games Bennett had 730 yards and three touchdowns. He did his damage when Billy Volek was quarterback, and when Chris Brown was banged up. Hmm, Volek isn’t projected to start, and the fact up above is a ding dinger for run-run-run.

Now that we are complete with that tirade, lets get realistic. Bennett is one of the elite emerging receivers in the league. He presents a lot of problems for defenses, but gearing to shut him down will also become easier. Especially since Tennessee has serious question marks at that position. Bennett will now face the opposing teams number one corner with Mason gone. If Bennett does create problems for the number one defensive back, than the defensive coordinator will just adjust with a crowding scheme.

The lack of Titans depth at receiver and Bennett’s barely dabbed success put him right inside the top twenty receiver rankings, on my list. He literally outperformed his previous two seasons combined with his stats from last season. Bennett’s trust from fantasy owners can’t come until after this season, when a realistic figure of a season should happen.

With Moss, Harrison, Owens, Johnson, Walker, etc, it may be awhile before Bennett even cracks the top ten.

You can breathe a sigh of relief, as your treatment has been successful. Once I snap my fingers, your memory will be erased of reading that magazine.

Snap.