A closer look at Brandon Gibson

Brandon Gibson and Nate Washington are different types of wide receivers, but it’s easy to believe the addition of one would lead to the subtraction of the other.

Gibson, who’s scheduled to visit the Titans this weekend, could probably command a fairly decent salary after totaling 174 catches for 2,090 yards (12-yard average) and nine touchdowns in his first four seasons.

Those numbers are better in some categories than Washington produced in his first four years, and the Titans rewarded Washington with a six-year, $27 million deal – an average of $4.5 million per season.

So if the Titans were to sign Gibson to a similar deal – and with Kenny Britt, Kendall Wright and Damian Williams already expected back – I’d have to think Washington would be the odd man out. The fact the Titans have engaged in trade talks about Washington makes that even more likely.

So what might the Titans get if they essentially swapped Gibson for Washington?

The 29 year-old Washington is the bigger deep-play threat. He’s averaged better than 16 yards per catch in two of his last three seasons, while Gibson’s 13.5-yard average last year was his career best. Washington also caught 14 passes of better than 20 yards last year, compared to nine for Gibson.

But if the Titans are satisfied that a healthier Kenny Britt and an improving Kendall Wright would offer sufficient deep threats, then the 25 year-old Gibson brings some nice numbers to the table when it comes to moving the chains.

A few stats in particular caught my eye regarding Gibson, especially given the fact that the Titans had a very hard time stringing together first downs last season:

• An impressive 43 of Gibson’s 51 catches last year went for first downs, per Stats.com. That 84.3 percent rate was the third-highest in the league behind Vincent Jackson of Tampa Bay and Lance Moore of New Orleans.

• Along similar lines, the ratio of Gibson’s first-down receptions to times he was targeted overall was 43 out of 82. That 52.4 percent rate was fourth-highest in the league.

• Gibson had seven catches with his team facing third and over seven yards, a figure that left him tied for 14th in the league, per Stats.com.

• In the last two minutes of the half in 2012, Gibson posted 12 catches (10 for first downs) for 167 yards and a touchdown. Washington, just for comparison’s sake, had two catches (one first down) for 17 yards and a TD in the final two minutes of the half last year.

As I referenced earlier, Gibson isn’t going to be a big-play guy. He averaged just two yards after catch last year (98th in the league), well behind someone like Washington, who averaged 5.28 yards after catch (31st in the league). Gibson’s longest reception was 34 yards, unlike Washington, who recorded a memorable 71-yard TD catch last season.

But those numbers didn’t stop the 6-0, 205-pound Gibson from making five touchdown catches last year, one more than Washington.

The bottom line, again, is that if the Titans feel as if they have adequate deep-threat options in Britt and Wright, then adding Gibson and subtracting Washington makes sense.

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Source: Titans Insider